Reading a book without it costing you time; this is how you do it

You can't make me happier than putting me at a nice place at a table with a cup of coffee and a book. Just sitting there with people around me, but still reading a book alone is what I enjoy the most. After a chapter, looking up to see who is having lunch, which person that lovely redhead is, and staring blankly ahead. I discovered a way to do all this at once: with an audiobook.

I really had to get used to the concept, because I am a flipper. I resisted the e-book at first as well, but I eventually came around. This made my friend's heavy backpack several kilos lighter due to the lack of thumb-thick books. And now I only need my phone and a nice pair of headphones that block out the rest. Besides being ingenious, I actually discovered two huge advantages.

Advantage one: doing things at the same time 
In the car, I always had two choices, the endless chatter on one station or the non-stop music on the other. But if you ask me what I did in traffic now, I just finished that exciting new one by Karin Slaughter. Reading a book in traffic was life-threatening, until now. By the way, Storytel combines very nicely with a walk, the train, or just in bed. Because it’s also nice to fall asleep without a kilo falling on your nose.

Advantage two: the educational book
As a reader, I read a lot, that’s what the label reader says, of course. But there is one genre that I find difficult, and that is the educational genre. Maybe it’s because I still see learning a bit as a chore due to my studies, and I associate reading a book with free time. But when I listen to the educational book, I don’t have this. I just started in Ikigai (which teaches you the art of aging youthfully, and we all want that) and I gain so many insights from it, without it feeling like studying.

Oh, and still another advantage three: unlimited reading
With a subscription of just over ten euros a month, you read/listen to everything on Storytel. But I can offer it for once 30 days free to try. From the latest psychological thriller to a masterpiece from Dutch literature to the Japanese art of aging youthfully. If you see me driving around without a playback session, I’m probably listening to a book.