by Hank Isaac
My daughter just had me listen to a portion of Oryx and Crake by Margaret Attwood on audio books. While I liked the part she wanted me to hear, I suddenly realized why I can’t listen to webinars, why I always had problems in school lectures, and why audio books are hard for me to listen to.When the reader (Campbell Scott) read dialogue, everything was cool. But when he read descriptions, exposition, and thoughts, everything ground to a halt with me.
Why?
The reading of dialogue generally takes place more or less in real time. But everything else – by necessity – takes far longer. If something we’re supposed to see is described, the description of it takes far longer than it would actually take for us to see it.