How Audio Books Allow You To Read 50 More Books A Year In Your Spare Time

I could hardly believe it when a friend of mine recently claimed he was reading 50 extra books a year - without eating into his spare time. Knowing how demanding his time was because of really heavy duty job commitments as well as being a single father, I was certain he was kidding me, and I told him I couldn't imagine how he could do it. OK, I said no way man, I don't believe you - you've got NO spare time anyway I know that!
Smiling confidently and with more than a little "about to shoot you down in flames" look in his eyes, he insisted that it was genuine. I would have continued arguing with his until he pointed out to me that he didn't have to physically "read" them, as they were "read" to him while he listened... in his spare time. Then he demonstrated it to me by playing an audio book, (some thriller thing) to me on his mp3 player.
He explained that this was how he could 'read' almost any book he wanted while he got ready for work in the morning, while he prepared his kids for school, while he worked out every day, while he commuted to and from work on the train or by car and during any free time which didn't involve using his mind for focus.
It struck me that I could do the same thing in my spare time, instead of just commuting to and from work doing nothing.
Just think for a moment - all that "dead time" How much do you have? Commutes, work outs, dog walking, gardening, car washing etc - Add it up over a lifetime and be shocked....
Like my friend, my work requires a lot of time involvement. I have to leave home quite early, spend over an hour on the road because of the constant heavy traffic and apart from normal breaks work solidly until closing time. And then I have another hour or more in the car to get home!
Based on his experience I decided to give audio books a try and have not looked back since (or maybe I should say "listened back"!)
Now, I can also say I can "read" 50 or more extra books a year on top of the paper ones I love to read as well.
Are you still dubious?
Fine, let's work it out - take this example:
For an audio book that takes 4 hours, you can 'read' it in just two days - 1 hour each day while preparing for work in the morning and 1 hour each day while commuting to and from work. That's 4 hours in 2 days.
So, if it took you 2 days to 'read' one audio book, and if you work say 5 days per week 48 weeks a year that would be give you 240 days; divide by 2, and this equates 120 books each year! This is not even including spare time on holiday and/or at weekends, evenings and so on. The opportunities are almost endless!
OK, you might not do it every day, and your daily routine might be different from mine, but you can see how that simple example generated over double the original 50 audio books we were estimating, right? You can easily see how you could achieve similar results by adapting this approach to your own routine.
Audio books are indeed the secret formula that many people use to get full value from the books they want to read. With audio books, you can overcome the frustration of never managing to get through any book.
All those of you who were avid readers at school, college or university, want to continue reading but can't afford the time anymore now have a solution in audio books. Whether you want to use your mp3, PC, cassette tape player, CD it's now possible and within your reach at relatively low cost, in many cases less than a paper book.
As a final thought, you don't need to restrict yourself to audio book fiction. There are loads of brilliant self help and education audiobooks out there. I have one that I'm using to learn Swedish while walking the dog every day which is truly superb.
Then there are heaps of business and motivation audio books that I guarantee will gets you fired up to work or play hard like you'd not believe.
So go and have a look at some audio books and start "reading" more from now on.