I have always wondered about the idea of Audio Books. I mean one grows up hearing the old adage the books are once best friends and such things. I never had a chance to try any audio book until now. See when you have to do an hour long commute on Highway 101 between San Jose and San Francisco you tend to find better use of that time. Besides many in the valley term the folks doing this kind of thing as having suicidal tendencies :D

Any way to better utilize the time I got myself this very famous book “Good to Great”. There is no question that the book is great (a review will follow some time later) After listening to 2 out of 5 CDs I have made few theories about the audio books

1. I miss the capability to easily read and re-read the passages I like.
2. How do I highlight the stuff I really like.
3. How about doing a very quick revision of what I have read so far
4. The impact of written word is totally missing. This may have to do with the our mind showing more love for the visual input.

Based on the above facts I think if you are a bibliophile AudioCDs are great for story telling books i.e. stories, novels etc but for the serious non fiction work good ol’ treeware books still rule.

Do you have similar experiences? It will be interesting to know..