OWH Column: Some books are better heard than read

This column, featuring a message from OPL Director Laura Marlane about reading vs. listening, appeared in the July 19, 2026, edition of the Omaha World-Herald (NE).

You’re not reading — you’re washing dishes, driving down Dodge, or walking the dog — and suddenly Mel Brooks is in your ear, regaling you with stories about growing up in
Brooklyn during the Depression. You’re laughing out loud at a stoplight. It doesn’t feel like reading. It feels like company.

Which raises a perennial question: if you listen to a book, does it “count” as reading?

The answer turns out to be more interesting — and more scientific — than most people expect.

Multiple studies over the past decade have compared comprehension between print reading and audiobook listening. In a widely cited 2016 study, education researcher
Beth Rogowsky found no meaningful difference in understanding between people who read a text and those who heard it.

Brain imaging research backs that up. A 2019 fMRI study reported in the Journal of Neuroscience found that the same neural networks are activated whether a story is read
or heard. In other words, your brain doesn’t particularly care how the story gets in. The same cognitive and emotional systems light up either way — processing meaning,
building images, and making connections.

The story is still doing its job.

Meanwhile, readers — or listeners, depending on your loyalties — are voting with their earbuds. Audiobooks are now the fastest-growing segment of the publishing industry.
According to the Audio Publishers Association, sales rose 13% in 2024 to $2.22 billion, returning the format to double-digit growth.

Analysts expect that momentum to continue. The global audiobook market is projected to grow rapidly over the next decade, fueled by streaming platforms like Spotify, which
added more than 300,000 audiobook titles for U.S. listeners in 2022 alone. Not bad for a format that once depended on a glove box full of cassette tapes.

And, to be honest, some books are simply better heard than read.

Memoirs, especially, come alive in audio. Mel Brooks’ "All About Me: My Remarkable Life in Show Business" is a perfect example — the printed page can’t quite recreate the
timing, rhythm, and sheer delight of hearing him tell his own stories about Blazing Saddles, The Producers, or History of the World Part I.

Other standouts in the “better heard than read” category include "Actress of a Certain Age" by Jeff Hiller, "Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah, and "Greenlights" by Matthew
McConaughey. And anything by David Sedaris is practically made for audio.

Some audiobooks go even further, turning storytelling into a full production. "Lincoln in the Bardo" by George Saunders features a large ensemble cast, including Rainn
Wilson, Susan Sarandon, and Nick Offerman.

"Daisy Jones & The Six" by Taylor Jenkins Reid — later adapted into a Daisy Jones & The Six series for Amazon Prime — uses a full cast to create the feel of a documentary
in your ears.

And "Fourth Wing" by Rebecca Yarros brings fantasy to life with a cinematic score and sound effects, following Violet Sorrengail’s quest to become a dragon rider.

So, does listening to a book count as reading?

At this point, the better question might be: why wouldn’t it?

Stories meet us where we are—in a chair, in the car, or halfway through folding laundry. Omaha Public Library offers every title listed here in multiple formats, so however you
choose to read, you’re always in good company.