What exactly do you do with yourself when you're listening to an audible book?

[HardRockOwl]

Just that really.

I've always said I wouldn't do it because I'm not quite sure what you're supposed to do at the same time. Just lie there? Stare at something? Or maybe you listen when you're doing housework

Anyway, I've been swimming a lot these past few months and can listen to a podcast just fine but I'm considering a book. But what happens if I get into the book and want to listen at other times? I just sit there doing it?

Tell me when you listen and how you concentrate as I just know my mind would drift

I listen when I'm walking, cooking, doing housework, in the bath, crocheting...

I listen when walking, school pick ups, driving on my own, doing the dishes, decorating, doing the laundry...basically any mindless task that can be done on auto pilot.

I have a few books that I listen to at bedtime, old favourites, so I easily drift off to sleep without getting too engaged.

If I get gripped by a plot I sometimes play games on my phone as I listen.

A pair of Bluetooth earphones make it easier.

Check out your local library online, some have lots of choice.

Doing a jigsaw, doing the dishes, laundry etc.

A small part of my job is data processing so I can listen while I annotate lines on a spreadsheet.

Cleaning, cooking, walking the dog, in the car. I can get a good 2-3 hours per day done.

Lay in bed and relax. Listen for an hour before I go to sleep, enjoy the peace. X

And I play it through the radio with an Aux cable as its a much better sound than headphones in the house. Maybe try a book you've already read and enjoyed that you won't have to listen too closely at first.

Also listen in the car. X

Driving, cleaning or out walking.

Walking, driving, housework epecially boring stuff like ironing, when I was doing art in college I used to listen while painting.
I couldn't just sit and listen, just like I cant just sit and listen to music

Walk, fall asleep, clean, work, colouring in

Driving, dog walking, crocheting. I can't listen to an audiobook while doing nothing, that's what reading is for. But I do love to listen to a book while I'm doing something else and would like some "company"

Darning sock and doing other repairs. Also, gardening.

Housework, cooking, commuting, exercising, walking the dogs, instead of watching TV in the evening (usually whilst being exceedingly exciting and doing a jigsaw, because I like to live life on the edge...), whilst having a shower/bath. Basically any time, really, I absolutely love audio books.

Knitting
Driving
Drawing
Cleaning
Washing up
Cooking
Gardening

When I’m running - it means I get my trainers on and get out there whatever the weather, because I want the next chapter

OP, how do you listen when you’re swimming? What device? With earphones? I’ve searched a bit on how to do that but no method. seems to be universally popular.
I’d swim for much longer if I could listen to Audible.

Walking to work or housework. Often if I can’t sleep too.

My DH listens for about 10 minutes then falls asleep..I don't think he's managed to finish a book yet.

@MMAMPWGHAP ah now you're probably picturing me power swimming or something. No. It's more a sedate ish breast stroke and I swim until I've done 1000 metres so about 30 odd minutes.

I'm in a quiet pool and I just put my AirPods in. They're the new ish ones and they're water resistant but of course not water proof! I pop my phone by the side of the pool on a chair that happens to be there. I've never had an airpod fall out yet and only had the very briefest water splash now and again

And that's it. Sadly no special devices etc

I never ever listen to audiobooks while just sitting. They help me get through thankless tasks like cleaning and making dinner. I also listen while running, walking and driving. They keep me sane like nothing else on this earth😁

I mostly listen while doing housework and cooking.
Sometimes I listen before I go to sleep but put a short timer on so I don't have to rewind too far if I fall asleep.
Sometimes I colour in while listening.

I cannot take in information like this, so odd, even find it hard to concentrate on audio only podcasts. The words just slide off my brain like it's made of Teflon. I think it's the slow monotonous intonation or something, it actually enrages me sometimes . I read pretty quickly, maybe that's the problem. Like you I wonder what you do with yourself whilst listening, maybe it would be fine for walking, haven't tried.

The ultimate luxury is to have the kindle and audible version of a book. At night, I read until my eyes are tired then switch to audible to drift off to sleep.

I thought it was just me!
I have a lot of trouble getting off to sleep and doing this definitely helps (although it's a pain trying to find my way back to the last thing I heard the next day 😁)

I also listen to audiobooks when driving or out for walks.

When I first started listening to audio books it was when I was out running and I soon realised my concentration kept slipping so I kept having to rewind and listen again but as time went on my powers of concentration improved considerably. Actually I also realised that rewinding and going back to the start of chapters wasn’t such a bad thing anyway - even if I thought I had listened well if I had not listened for several days I’d go back to the start of a chapter and I’d realise I had still missed small things. If you’re going to make the effort to read or listen to a whole book I prefer not to shove it down like fast food but to really try and take out all in - what’s the rush? Now I listen to audiobooks or podcasts while cooking out sometimes when walking the dog.

Driving to work and back, I get through a lot of audiobooks.
I listen in the bath, washing up, dog walking, gardening, sometimes when supermarket shopping.