I read quite a few books each year (at least one a week).
And I love Audible.com because it also lets me listen to dozens of audio books each year.
“You can’t count audio books as ones you’ve read,” said the coffee shop acquaintance, “because you haven’t actually read them.”
“I’ve listened all the way through, to the unabridged versions, how is that not equivalent to reading a book?” I asked.
“Because you don’t remember anything from them. You have to actually read the book, with your eyes.” said my acquaintance forcefully.
“So by that logic, no blind person ever, has ever read a book, either by Braille, or by listening to an audio version of the book.” I countered.
“No, that’s not what I am saying at all. You’re taking my words out of context. I am saying, if you have listened to an audio book, you haven’t actually read the book.”
“And I am saying,” I continued, “that if a blind person only listens to audio books, that by your logic, they have never read a book.”
“No, that’s a completely different situation.”
“Apart from the fact I think your argument is flawed and that you are completely full of shit, would you care to define exactly how the two are different?”
“You have eyes.” said the acquaintance emphatically.
“Yeah, you really are full of shit.” I smiled.