I am a fan.  A huge fan.

I travel a fair amount for work to exotic places like South Dakota.  (JK– I love South Dakota, but exotic it is not.)  In any case, when you pair a long car ride alone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, you get nothing but trouble.  I learned early on that if I didn’t give my mind something to chew on during those drives, then I would be submitting myself to OCD attacks.

I read Perelandra by C.S. Lewis while driving 75 MPH down I-29 from Watertown to Sioux Falls.  And when I say read, I mean read, my eyes flickering every two seconds between the page on my steering wheel and out the windshield.  I know, I know– it’s terrible, and it was so dangerous, and I could have killed myself or someone else.  Praise God I didn’t.

But in the end, my office awarded me the “FOR GOODNESS SAKES, GET A RADIO” award, and I started using audiobooks, the safer and legal version of reading while driving.  Over the years, I have collected a small library of audiobooks, which I listen to rather often since I like to re-read.

Now, here is my question, and maybe you in the blogosphere can help settle a disagreement between my co-worker and myself: is listening to an audiobook the same thing as reading?

I say YES.  Sure, it’s a different format of reading, but it’s still reading.  I think it is fair for me to listen to an audiobook and then tell a friend, “I just read such-and-such book.”  That seems obvious to me.

I cannot understand why my co-worker Josh disagrees.  He said it’s not the same thing.  I don’t understand why it wouldn’t be.  It’s still a BOOK, isn’t it?  How then would you describe your interaction with it?  “I just listened to such-and-such book”?  And if so, what is the difference between saying that and that you read it?

I fear this post is very inarticulate, but maybe one of you readers can help put my thoughts (or Josh’s) into words.  Help?