Hi

[GenericSoul27]

Hi.

Obviously, using "hi" twice in a row, I'm extraordinarily creative. Hah.

My name is tom, and I am so glad to have found Librivox. I've been a fan of Gutenberg (the website, not the printing press nor the ubiquitous mid-1980s fluff-comedy actor). I have never listened to an audiobook in my life. HOWEVER, a bunch of people I know live by them. They can enjoy literature, history, biographies, even "erotic romance novels" while they drive, workout, act like they're working at their desks. The audiobook format is ideal, especially when one doesn't have time for proper paper-fingers bonding time.

Beyond that, I think people who listen to a well-read audiobook retain details better than somebody watching a film version, or even (in many cases) people actually reading an actual trade paperback. Some people read very fast with excellent retention. Others zoom through books so fast that they miss potentially important lines of dialogue, or a newspaper headxline or whatever.

I can't cite years, but for millenia, we have been storytellers. Until Gutenberg (the press guy), books were pretty much all copied by hand. Stories were told to relay and explain a group or tribe''s history, to provide a framework upon which to hang a moral message, as allegory, to direct its listeners toward a path of thinking (propaganda), even to describe what it was like to train as an LAPD Officer (Steve Gutenberg, finally). Even with the Gutenberg Press, printed books remained the provenance of the wealthy. It took a while before it trickled down to where the average person could drop a nickel and buy a magazine with the latest Charles Dickens novel serialized each week. Or drop a dime for Mickey Spillane or Zane Grey.

I love this project, because it features some of those books in that transition period where the availability of books increased, their cost decreased, they became more widely available, and reading became a larger part of society. From popular novels like Dickens, to books of snarky essays like H.L. Mencken--and reaching waaaay back into the Ancient Greek tragedies Lirbrivox makes available titles most readers/listeners have never heard of.

Also, there's something familiar and comforting about the cadence of the human voice. Words have time to sink in, to captivate the listener so they retain the key points; they're allowed to simply be consumers. They can drink, and prop their feet up. It's a respite during the day or night.

Oh good Lord. Ignore all that (except for the fact that I'm excited to be here). My name is Tom. I have a Bachelor's degree in Literature from Florida State University. For 25 years, I wrote freelance for various magazines and such, but my main job was in broadcasting. Specifically, radio. I wrote and voiced thousands of commercials--some of which didn't even suck!--and I loved it. In other words, Literature and reading are both in my proverbial wheelhouse.

Thanks again for approving me. I hope you all made it through the Covid Nightmare. I'm amazed this world survived so well.

It was probably due to audio books.

tom

[barbara2]

Hi Tom,

I enjoyed your insights. Yes, there is "something familiar and comforting about the cadence of the human voice." Like being read to sleep as a child...[I use podcasts for that still!].

Have you submitted the 1-minute test of your technical setup?

I like to direct new readers to Phil's welcome video (I wish we'd had it when I joined):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKLWam9cfVo&t=74s

Best,

Barbara