Audio books: Make time fly when you are on the road

Long hours travelling are inherent in our work culture. And it can often mean sacrificing those little things that make life pleasurable, like reading. Simply put, we just don’t have the spare time. Enter the humble audio book.

The premise is simple enough, it’s a book you listen to. But it can be something of a revelation to the unacquainted. Probably because listening to audio books just seems so obvious. Yet still, there are few of us that do it with regularity. I mean, how many dreary hours have you spent staring at a cold, grey, murky motorway desperate to get home and go to sleep? Or worse, desperate to try and stay awake before you can even home and go to sleep! 

Audio books could open up a whole new world of literature and learning. Now you can finally get round to reading, or, more accurately, listening, to all of those classics that have been on your reading list for the past thirty years. Time can really fly on the road absorbed in a Dickensian world of antiquated England, or a realist depiction of old America with Hemingway, or a world of daleks in a DrWho audio book.

The possibilities of different worlds are endless. And that’s only fiction. Imagine all of the things you could learn in non-fiction with history, travel, culture and biography. If there’s anything you've ever wanted to learn, there isn't an excuse for you because audio books let you turn that time in the car staring at the motorway into a classroom of learning.

If you’re with the family in the car, listening to an audio book can be an excellent way of bonding via a shared experience. It’s all a bit familiar because once upon a time, listening to a book in a group was the norm. Before the introduction of pocket paperbacks, families would read in groups together. That was just how it was done. Likewise, in the car, an absorbing adventure book will keep adults entertained and, perhaps most usefully, keep kids quiet.

You might be concerned that listening to an audio book would distract you from driving. But more often than not, it’s the boredom of driving itself that keeps you from concentrating on the road. Having something else to do while driving keeps your brain active, concentrated, and reminds you to keep your eye on the road. In all reality, listening to an audio book while driving will actually help you focus.

Hopefully, this will encourage you to make that all important first purchase. Once you've decided on your reading material, you can download audio books and put them straight onto your MP3 player. This should plug into the car stereo simply enough. Audio books are easy, practical and straightforward. And, best of all, it costs no more than an ordinary book!