How They Re-emerged as a Rare Bright Spot in the Publishing Business
For a new generation of readers, the best way to devour a
book may be to not read it at all. Alexandra Alter joins Lunch Break to explain
the new surge in audio books. Photo: Getty Images.
Cory Wilbur, a 25-year-old software engineer in Boston,
never used to read much. He barely cracked a book in college and would read one
or two a year on vacation, at most.
But in the past year, he's finished 10 books, including
Dan Brown's "Inferno," Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs and George R.R.
Martin's fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire." He listens to audio books in
snippets throughout the day on his iPhone during his morning workout, on his
20-minute commute to work, and while he's cooking dinner or cleaning up. Before
he falls asleep, he switches to an e-book of the same story on his Kindle, and
starts reading right where the narrator left off.
"I fly through a lot more books than I used to," Mr.
Wilbur said.
The digital revolution may have dealt a heavy blow to
print, but it is boosting literacy in other unexpected ways by fueling the
explosive growth of audio books.
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