Virag’s blog

Book vs Audio/Video

I am very found of books ,  I can say books are my best time pass. Like any other book lover , have brought lots of books. Some of them read completely , some few chapter and some not touched :-).

when visited US first time , came across about AUDIO book concept. It is really nice concept.Busy people usually use this audio book to utilize there time when they driving , flying etc. I copy audio book in mobile while traveling , less weight then book isn’t it ??

First  week of November one of my friend gave me audio book CD/DVD of ” The Alchemist ” , “Sons and Lover” , Bloodline and Video DVD of  “Notebook” ( My all time favorite, Now a days it is appearing in top love story book lists ). I have all these books in my rack.

My detail experiment with books , audio books and video goes like this

1) The Notebook  by Nicholas Sparks :

I saw this movie long back , and want to watch again and  again ..as it my favorite one. Even my laptop screen Saver is from this movie :-) . I first saw Notebook   and then read book. When , I was reading book my mind going ahead of my reading. It really killed imagination and feeling, that we make during reading book.

2) Bloodline  by Sidney Seldon :
 
I brought this book long back , but not able to read. So thought it is really good to listen audio book of Bloodline. Audio book quality is not good , moreover the accent is typical American , so some word / sentence bounce above my head, so again and  again I have to take audio back , it really killed flow of story. So finally read book and feel good because I make my on imagination and feeling rather keep mind in attention, what she going to say next. So reading book is good

3) Sons and lover by DH Lawrence

It is classic by D H Lawrence , I tried to read this book 2-3 time but stop after  reading few chapter ,this  book not keep reader in flow ie it is not page turner kind of book. Every time when I start again reading again ,  I started from beginning because there is huge gap between reading, but it kill my all enthuse to finish book. After getting audio book , I just listen patiently , some part I got, some not. But in the end of the audio session,  got a big picture about this book , latter started reading book and finished it :-).

4) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

It is really very very nice book , I should Rank it - MUST READ. I have read this book  2 time. Its audio book is also very good. Speed of reading and pronunciation  is very good. Method of reading is like story teller by keeping different pitch of voice for different character , situation like we listened  story in our childhood from elders.

My conclusion 

1) Always prefer book , instead of audio book
2) Listen sample of audio book , to make sure it worth to listen when you traveling or busy
3) If you really busy PROBABLY use audio book ,
4) Never see movie before reading book , Seeing movie before reading mean  killing your imagination, feeling  and charm to read book
5) Audio is good for Short story and Self help kind of books , if accent of reader is good.
6) For kids always prefer book or movie , because kids learn from seeing picture , putting those in Memory.

Don’t worry I am not publisher and not promoting book reading. It is just my experiment and want share with all you ,so  you can not mistake while choosing among lot of option.

Some exception

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur-Golden   …
I tried to read this 2 time and completed almost 60-70 % , but never completed. Finally saw movie , Movie look much better then book . Same I did with with “The Da Vinci Code” (  by Dan Brown ).

ePaper Hindustan times => http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/
epaper of Hindustan Times give feature for audio News i.e. Which ever article you like , just click on that , it will pop-up/open-up in new window. On top of that window there is button for audio , when you click on that , it will read news for you. While working I use , this feature frequently for my favorite topics/articles ( Specially for editorial section which is big and boring )  and keep working

Buddhism
Recent went for Vipassana Meditation , after completing that course I have curiosity to know about Buddhism teaching and Buddha. Also lots of questions , like what is difference in Vipassana , Japan Zen and Tibet teaching ….. why they are different. Instead going for lots of book or web sites , I just listened Audio CD “Beginner guide to Buddhism” by one of the leading person of Buddhism teaching in western countries. It answer my most of the questions.

I am sure some of you already  experienced the differences of  book reading, audio book and video. It would great, If  you can share your experiences. Even you have not experienced difference in book and audio book , let me know your Point Of View (POV) 

Have a Nice DAY , with some good quotes

• To succeed, it is necessary to accept the world as it is — and rise above it.
• Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense -Buddha
• You are what you think and with your thoughts you make the world. - Buddha
• Your Belief Becomes Your Reality
  

Updates

More Resource 

1) Today 11-JAN-2009 HT have very good article about AUDIO BOOK. Check

http://epaper.hindustantimes.com -> Page 18 & 19 of HT Brunch Date 11-JAN-2009

2) Orders pour in for first Marathi audio book

How I knew that Tony was the man for me
The wife of Tony Blair talks about the momenttrue romance blossomed between them

1975: Cherie”s boyfriend, John, holds a Christmas party at his London
flat. Cherie invites her fellow pupil at Derry Irvine”s chambers, Tony Blair.

It was a proper Christmas party with games. One involved putting a balloon under your chin and passing it along. As Tony didn”t know any of the other guests, he”d been put next to me, and so we were doing this passing the balloon and I suddenly thought, Hang on a minute…I don”t know what it was. Perhaps the smell of his skin, something so fleeting, a little flicker, but definitely there. Until that moment it had genuinely never crossed my mind that he was anything but a rival.

The truth, I began to realise, was that he was a very good-looking young man, tall and slim, yet broad in the shoulders. A really strong body.

The short back and sides he”d had when we”d first bumped into each other had grown out into an unruly mess and his hair curled down over his collar in a way that made me want to twist it round my fingers. As for his eyes, which I”d barely registered before, they were a clear penetrating blue, penetrating because they seemed to see right through me, to the extent that I could feel a
blush rise up from some uncharted part of me and flood my face.
 

Towards the end of term, as it”s called, Derry decided to take us out for our Christmas dinner.

Tired though I was, I decided to sit it out until Derry went home on his own. Eventually he did. Then Tony and I took the bus…It was a double-decker and we went upstairs. It was completely empty and by the time we got off we knew each other better than when we”d got on. And even better the next morning.

So that left me with three men in my life. Tony knew about John but not about David. John knew about David but not about Tony, and poor David fondly imagined I was living a quiet life of hard work in dreary London, enlivened by occasional visits to Liverpool. Oh dear.

Cherie visits Tony and his family in Durham over the Christmas holidays, then they return to work.

The moment Tony and I were back in chambers, Derry started a big case. Our job was to see that Derry had what he needed on the day, passing him the necessary papers, taking notes and the rest of it. The court was just along from the Tate Gallery, so every lunchtime Tony and I would go there, and it was then that he really began to open up.

He talked to me about his mother, who had died only the previous year, just two weeks after he left university. Also about religion, which was obviously very important to him. He told me how he had been confirmed during his time at Oxford. Although the Blairs were not a church-going family, the two boys had been sent to the Chorister School attached to Durham Cathedral. His father wasn”t a believer, however. Perhaps this was why Tony wasn”t confirmed earlier.

Even at that very early stage in our relationship, Tony and I would spend hours talking about this kind of thing, about God and what we were here for. I don”t think it would be too strong to say that it was this that drew us together. This and the fact that he had just lost his mother. He was incredibly
honest and open about his feelings, which was unusual in a man at that time. He had very confirmed views on marriage, for example. He genuinely thought that two people could be together for life. Having seen what had happened to my mum, it seemed like a wonderful thing to aim for, though I wasn”t sure that men were up to it.

I certainly wanted it to be true, not least because I had seen for myself how damaging a wandering male can be to his family and his kids: by then my father had six daughters by three different women - those that we knew about anyway…

What I really admired was his honesty and his desire to get to the heart of things and his belief that we were here for a purpose. I loved talking to him and, on the odd occasion when we couldn”t have these lunch breaks together at the Tate, I felt as if something was missing.

Over the years I have thought about what made me choose Tony. It was partly chemistry - I fancied him rotten, and still do - but partly because I thought even then that he had something. Behind the charm there was a steely quality to him. Frankly, he fascinated me as I had never met anybody quite like him before, not somebody who could give me a run for my money.

TWO BOYFRIENDS WAS A LITTLE FLIGHTY

Cherie had two boyfriends on the go - David Attwood and John - when she first heard that Tony Blair "fancied" her.

I already had a boyfriend. In fact, I had two: David in Liverpool and John in London. John knew about David but David had no idea about John.Tony knew about  David  , but no idea about  John

It might seem odd that a girl with my Catholic upbringing was being so flighty. But it”s like contraception: most Catholics use it as much as anyone else; otherwise we”d all have families in double figures. You can always go to confession, though I have never confessed to fornication.

Perhaps one day in my old age I will: "Father, forgive me. I am trying to be sorry for it, but I still find it quite difficult!"

HE PROPOSED AS I CLEANED THE TOILET

In September [1976] we drove to Italy. We started off in Calais and then made our way right down through France and Switzerland to Italy, to Chianti country, where we had rented the bottom half of a villa.

The two weeks ended all too soon and the last morning I was up early, scrubbing the floors and generally leaving the villa as I would hope to find it. Naturally, Tony was nowhere to be seen. My last task, inevitably, was the toilet.

So there I am, on my knees, cleaning the toilet and Tony comes up behind me.

"You know, Cherie, I think maybe we should get married." Reader, I said yes.

Of the three men she had in her life, Cherie Blair chose former British Prime Minister Tony Blair with whom she discovered her “true love” on the “empty top deck of a double-decker bus”.

The wife of Tony Blair, in her memoir “Speaking for Myself”, wrote that she fancies him “rotten” and that the Labour leader proposed to her while she was cleaning a toilet.

The excerpts from her autobiography serialised in The Times on Thursday, Cherie, who already had two boyfriends besides Tony, describes a Christmas dinner hosted by Lord Irvine of Lairg, who was then head of the future couple”s chambers in 1975.

After the dinner, “Tony and I took the bus… It was a double-decker and we went upstairs. It was completely empty and by the time we got off we knew each other better than when we”d got on. And even better the next morning.”

Following her bus experience with Tony, Cherie said that she was left with “three men in my life.” “Tony knew about John (Higham) but not about David (Attwood). John knew about David but not about Tony, and poor David fondly imagined I was living a quiet life of hard work in dreary London,” the article quoted her as saying.

On why she chose Tony, Cherie said “I have thought about what made me choose Tony. It was partly chemistry ' I fancied him rotten, and still do - but partly because I thought even then that he had something.

“Behind the charm there was a steely quality to him. Frankly, he fascinated me as I had never met anybody quite like him before, not somebody who could give me a run for my money,” the better half of former British Prime Minister said.

Dtailing on how the proposal from Tony came about, Cherie said: “In September 1976, we drove to Italy. We started off in Calais and then made our way right down through France and Switzerland to Italy, to Chianti country, where we had rented the bottom half of a villa. Two weeks ended all too soon and the last morning I was up early, scrubbing the floors and generally leaving the villa as I would hope to find it. Naturally, Tony was nowhere to be seen.

My last task, inevitably was the toilet. So there I am, on my knees, cleaning the toilet and Tony comes up behind me. “You know, Cherie, I think maybe we should get married". “I said yes,” she said in her memoir.