Invasion of the Pod(cast) People

Back in the days before television--and definitely before my time--families used to gather around the old wireless radio for their nightly entertainment. From Little Orphan Annie to the Metropolitan Opera to the infamous War of the Worlds, there was something for everyone. Today, in the digital age, we can stream television content anywhere, anytime. And we do. But apparently we still love to listen to great stories, because podcasts are huge.

As of June of this year, the running total of podcasts is 750,000 and climbing, which adds up to more than 30 million individual episodes. Wow. And I thought finding something to watch on Netflix was hard.

Even though I sort of failed at audio books a few weeks ago, I wanted to give daily podcasts a whirl. I've dabbled in podcasts before, but not on a regular basis. So this week I dipped my toe into the Amazon River-sized stream of audio content and discovered variety that puts even the golden age of radio to shame. Despite that vast quantity of podcasts, it didn't take me long to narrow down my preferences:

Sports: No thanks. I don't mind watching, but listening to people talk about sports? No, no, a thousand times no.

Humor: It depends. Something clever (without an abundance of casual profanity), or the always funny Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, definitely. A couple of guys riffing about beards or whatnot--I'll pass.

Politics: Nope. I get quite enough of that by watching the news.

Science/Nature: Yes, please.

Psychology/Social Science: Another yes. History, too.

True Crime: This is a big one, because they are apparently very popular. I enjoy a good mystery, but if I start to feel like someone might be creeping around in the bushes outside, then that's not the podcast for me.

In general, the best podcasts follow the rules for good storytelling: they draw the listener in quickly, they build suspense and/or interest, and they don't waste time with a lot of extraneous details. It is not as easy as it might seem, but there are plenty of podcasts doing it very well. This week is a Take It, and if you have any podcasts to recommend, please leave me a comment! Happy listening!

Get your ears ready!

Tell Me a Story

I'm pretty sure humans have enjoyed oral storytelling ever since the first cave people gathered around the fire and started spinning yarns to amuse themselves. (Which predated actual yarn, but you know what I'm trying to say.) Judging from the exploding market for audiobooks, we haven't lost our taste for listening to great stories. According to Publisher's Weekly, for example, audiobook revenue jumped 22.7% in 2018. That's huge.

If you're old enough, you will remember Books on Tape--bulky collections of uncooperative cassette tapes, often abridged to make them light enough for one person to carry without risk of physical injury. The digital market changed all of that. Now, we can tote audiobooks around in our pockets without so much as a tweaked muscle. Technology for the win!

Despite the growing popularity, I don't have much experience with audiobooks. When my boys were younger, we listened to the Harry Potter series (voiced by the amazing Jim Dale) on road trips, and that's pretty much been it for me. So last week, I decided to jump in and see what I've been missing.

Using Hoopla, I was able to borrow and download the books free from my library. I chose one fiction (The Nightmare Room, by Chris Sorensen, narrated by the author) and one nonfiction (Heart: A History, by Sandeep Jauhar, narrated by Patrick Lawlor). Full disclosure: it was a busy week for me with a kid graduating from high school on Saturday, and I was not able to finish either of them. They are both very good, albeit very different, books, and I hope to get to the end at some point in the near future.

From a convenience standpoint, audiobooks beat print books hands-down. I could listen while I did laundry, washed dishes, or worked in the garden. (I know many people like to listen in their cars, but I didn't try that this time around.) And there's an engaging performance aspect to audiobooks; a good narrator really does make for a fun experience. I enjoyed the time I spent with both.

But.

As a writer, I find myself taking sentences apart to examine what worked or what I would do differently, and I missed seeing the words on the page. I also missed the ability to reread passages that resonated with me; they went in one ear and out the other, as the expression goes. If my mind wandered a bit, I couldn't just glance back to catch up. And I kind of missed the sound of my own voice reading in my head, if that makes sense.

All in all, one week wasn't enough to make an immediate audiobook convert out of me, but I'm not ready to throw in the towel. There are so many books I want to read--and so little time to read them--that multitasking with an audiobook makes sense.

So I will Take It...and any recommendations you may have for my listening pleasure!