Designs for All > Look, Listen & Learn: Talking Books

The memories we all have since we are little of the moment at night when some dear person reads a book for us might be reproduced all along our lives. That memory of the sweet kiss of his mother narrated by Marcel Proust in his novels might become true with its relation with the lecture of a dear book of stories by some gentle voice.

Technology allows after decades to listen to recorded books, poems or music any time, any where, any how. Regarding literature we are most familiar with the direct reading from the paper book. But today we also read from our PC, we read on the TV text and even on out cellular phone we read messages.

On our days there are more readers but we all have less time to read, that’s why audio books are an interesting design for all. Not only may we listen to music, but also we may listen to talking books while we read, or instead of reading in Braille we might listen to an talking book. Recordings of music and lectures by notorious professors have been frequent ever since it is technically possible at the beginning of the XXth century. Vinyl records gave big popularity to recordings and today with light technologies such as the mp3, it is possible to listen to records of novels, songs or poems just by unloading them from the web.
At Talkingbooks.org, we can both reach info on literary news sounds and receive the files physically in our homes by postal mail. Both options give access to lectures for all, a design for all. Today the access to culture with no physical limits is most interesting. The high quality of talking books is besides the possibility of reading while doing other activities it is not necessary to accumulate loads of books in our houses. Simple is better.