> but my favourite has to be the Rob Inglis recordings

Impressive, very nice. Let's see Paul Allen's recording.

Martin Shaw's recording of the Silmarillion is similarly wonderful.

The Hobbit was specifically written to be read out loud, if I remember correctly.

Would you also suggest to the families in the 30s & 40s that listening to the popular radio shows while sitting in the living room could have been a better experience if they had just read the transcript, instead? Or that they should have been multitasking during the shows, else it was a waste of their time?

Honestly, you probably don't even take reading seriously if you're reading the book. If you're sitting on an armchair not really doing anything else, you should be reading from clay tablets, as Tolkien would have wanted.

You must be great at parties.

Haven’t you ever experienced having a story read to you, and falling into deep immersion and visualization?

Some people just prefer to listen. I read well and I read quite quickly -- I don't know how many books I've physically read, but it's gotta be in the high hundreds at least -- but over the past ~10 years I've switched primarily to audiobooks. Rather than being something that I enjoy while I'm doing something else, I typically do something mindless with my hands (weave chainmail, cross stitch, sew) in order to give my full attention to the book.

What kind of virtue signaling is this?

My memory works much better when I hear something than if I read it, when it comes to non technical stuff.

hi loloquwowndueo, i was thinking the same thing, but then I thought why you would prefer reading a book while sitting instead of listening - is it about efficiency and that if you CAN read one should (you use the imperative) read? I also have this view, but when I was young and an avid reader I also enjoyed radio stories immensely as my imagination was also activated. As in the past we were an species with a predominantly oral cultural transmission, arguably more 'embodied', there could be something to say for attending a theatre version in preference of a book. On the other hand, reading often is faster, but it's indirect, you translate the symbols into your imagination yourself, on the upside you perhaps train your mind more. So both have their advantages, one is not necessarily better. I notice I am often looking through a lense of efficiency and then make choices where I loose a certain experience - sitting in the dark listening to someone telling a story instead of reading can be equally wonderful.

I generally prefer reading, but I don't judge people who prefer listening. My wife sometimes plays audiobooks for our kids, I read them.