If all you do is listen to books can you call yourself "well read" or "literate" (Page 2)

ebooks require reading/literacy.  audiobooks do not.

I have never in my life ever listened to a book.

Amen.

I'll be the first to say, I'm not "well-read". I don't read too much across literary genres. I know what I like (nonfiction, mystery, adventure, and such) and I generally don't read outside of those genres.

i agree with all of the above, except for that it is a synonym for well-educated.  i know plenty of brilliant engineers, for example, that are very well educated, but not well read.  i think the key to well read is the diversity piece.  however, i think that if you are well read, you are probably well educated.

i think i would consider myself well read.  and i do listen to audiobooks a lot!  i also read actual physical books, ebooks, newspapers, magazines, etc.  i 'read' lots of topics and genres.  unfortunately i don't discuss them well because i don't know many people that read the things i do, so i have nowhere to sharpen THAT part of the skill, so perhaps i'm not well read at all?

I think learning is very subjective and the mechanism by which you best assimilate knowledge is based to a large degree on early experiences. I can read scientific journals online, but if I want to really understand it fully I will still print it out and get out the highlighter and a mechanical pencil.

My oldest son is in a college which required students to purchase iPads preloaded with textbooks. That is how he studies and will likely form the basis for his future preferred means to assimilate information.

i would be so mad about the ipad thing.  i would have terrible headaches from the eyestrain.  i'm with you on paper and highlighters.  i still purchase the far more expensive textbooks because i can NOT read them on my computer.  i would be miserable!!

Conversely, if all you do is read with your eyes, you may not "hear" the word, and thus not know how to pronounce it. When I was a kid, I horribly mispronounced "Poseidon" as I had never heard the word being used. There have been a number of other words I have encountered over the years that I had no idea how to correctly pronounce until I heard them used. Audiobooks solve that problem. And mispronouncing words makes even smart well educated people sound illiterate and poorly read.

Interesting, thanks for the heads up.  It's hard to think of Hermione like that -- her essential competence is such a core feature of the series.  Now I want to go ask my blind friend to describe the character of Hermione...

It won't give you that distinct smell, but forget the ipad for books, unless it is a technical manual or something similar. For novels, or other prose, a true e-reader is as close to a book as you can get. I was a skeptic, but I am now sold. The e-ink technology is no strain, and has the same feel and effect on the eye as paper. It is too bad that he rush to "next generation" e-readers jumped so soon to yet another glowing screen, i.e. kindle fire or iPad. In this house we have them all, but if I want to read a book, I prefer my basic kindle. It is nice to access my kindle library on ipad for any photos that may be included in a book, but I go back to the basic kindle all the time.

I totally agree with Mehaner:  well read -- possibly, literate (if this was all you did) -- no.

OP - I am exactly like you. I read the paper and magazines in print or online, but I prefer to use audiobooks for the majority of my pleasure reading. I listen in the car on my longish commute and I can get through so many more stories.  I used to read a lot when I took the bus to work, but when that changed I had few other times to read.  I am actually much more well read now, I ingest SO many more stories.  I even listened to a few non-fiction books, something I would never have read.  I struggle when I want to talk about a book "I read, no... listened to that book and...."  It's awkward.   If I hear about a book I am interested in the first place I check is the library econtent catalog. If I can't get the audiobook I often don't bother.   I will occasionally get an ebook or "real book", which I had to do recently for book club after exhausting all other options.

I think I am not a very good visual learner because, despite my college degree in English Lit, reading comprehension is not my best thing.   I get SO MUCH MORE out of audio books when I am helped with the appropriate inflections of the narrator.

I think the ideal situation would be to read along, from the book, with an audiobook.  Then you will really learn the vocabulary and spelling, which is the best thing I got from being an avid reader my whole life.  Especially if the narrator is talented and good with other languages and can pronounce words correctly.  I would surely limit my children in the number of audiobooks they listen to (if I had any).  Folks are already bad enough at spelling, can you imagine if they didn't see words spelled correctly on a regular basis? 

A lot depends on the age of the child. An audio book, for a kid, is no different than having a bedtime story read to you. Except there is on the one hand a reader who doesn't get tired of reading the same book but on the other hand is not there to actually tuck you in and give you a kiss and tell you that you are loved.

My oldest daughter used to get books read to her by myself and mrs gearboy; as well as having a collection of books on tape (actual cassette tapes, back in the day). She would follow the print version of the audiobooks while she was settling in for the night, and unbeknownst to us, taught herself how to read by 4. We only figured this out when visiting relatives, she took a book she did not own and started to actually read the text aloud.