Audiodidact (Input)

An everyday system, TM, is a simple, commonsense solution to an everyday problem, grounded by a pun or metaphor. Propose/discuss new systems here.
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reinhard
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Audiodidact (Input)

Post by reinhard » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:22 pm


stevecooper
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Post by stevecooper » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:27 am

Oh my god. That's exactly what I do, right down to the teaching company lectures. They are frankly amazing. I listen when I'm commuting and I listen, as you say, when I'm doing work around the house. I think the reason drudgery's got such a bad rap is because it doesn't normally involve learning about the inherent problems of the Roman senate. ;)

I've found that over time, the difference in learning is massive, simply massive. Here in the UK we have a quiz show called University Challenge; generally the questions are pretty damned hard -- designed to test 2nd and 3rd-year students. The teaching company stuff has made it a hell of a lot easier to answer the questions in just about every category. My liberal education is drastically improved. The website is http://www.teach12.com/. I'll stop frothing now.

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Re: Audiodidact (Input)

Post by NoelFigart » Wed Mar 14, 2007 1:23 am

Reinhard, I'm a very enthusiastic listener to audiobooks and have been for many years. I do many of the things you recommend. My house is neat because I can listen to an audiobook while I do it. I listen to them when I cook dinner. I knit while listening to audiobooks and I often walk while listening to them.

I take the bus to work, and I'll knit and listen to a book, so the time is not at all wasted. In fact, it's pleasurable and productive, both!

I'm glad to see you recommending this.

I'm a page at a glance reader, so I do absorb the printed word a lot. But ya know, especially with a GOOD audiobook (say the Jim Dale renditions of the Harry Potter stories), there's a delightful dimension.

If you're fond of Neil Gaiman, get Anansi Boys from your library, do! The performance is astonishingly good.

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Post by reinhard » Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:29 pm

Steve,

I'm glad this resonated with you! I've been listening mostly to philosophy and religion courses recently. I tried some science but I've found that doesn't work too well through the ear... my mind wanders. I think there's something inherently visual about science and math. History is going to be my next teaching company frontier. Let me know if you have any recommendations.

Noel,

A page at a glance? Is this some inborn thing, or a speed reading technique?

I listened to the German translation of the first Harry Potter. Kid books (especially familiar ones) are great for foreign languages.

I don't know Neil Gaiman or Ansansi Boys, but the reviews on amazon are persuasive...

Reinhard

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Post by stevecooper » Fri Mar 16, 2007 8:20 am

reinhard wrote:History is going to be my next teaching company frontier. Let me know if you have any recommendations.
I'm a big fan of the romans, so Garret Fagan's 'History of Ancient Rome' is great. Susan Foster MacArthur's 'Introduction to Archaeology' is very interesting, too. Thomas Childer's 'World War II, A military and social history' filled a massive gap in my knowledge, too.

I think you're right about the maths courses -- I think you can get these on DVD, so you can see the visuals -- but there are some of the science courses that are great. I can recommend Daniel Robinson's 'Great Ideas of Psychology', Drew Weston's 'Perspectives on Abnormal Psychology', and Lawrence Pincipe's 'History of Science: Antiquity to 1700'. All eminently suited to the audio format.

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Audiodidact

Post by Big Phil » Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:00 am

I am keen to try this. Should I spring for an expensive MP3 player or iPod, or will a cheapo one with a smaller memory suffice. i.e. I think 512 Mb could hold a lot of lecture, but am I wrong?

Thanks,

Phil.

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Post by stevecooper » Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:23 am

You should be able to get a single, full lecture series onto a small player. 1gb seems only a few pounds more than 512mb, so I'd opt for that. That much space will probably give you a few lecture courses and a few albums of music.

Looking here, I can see a 1gb player for about £15, where an iPod is more like £170. The tenfold increase is probably only worth it if you really get into this. I've got one, and it means I'm always carrying round all the courses.

Although, if you're _really_ into this and have, say, a long commute by train, then MIT publish loads of their courses in video format;

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/OCWHelp/avocw.htm

Which might make the iPod video worthwhile. that said, I've never tried it, but if it's possible to put these videos onto an iPod, that'd be just about the best portable education you could wish for...

However -- £15 for a basic MP3 player's got to be a good bet for trying it out.

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Post by reinhard » Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:42 pm

I have an ipod nano that I got as a gift. It's nice... but expensive enough that I'm not sure I would have bought it for myself.

Before that I was using an mp3 cd player, which, with a little bit of forethought is pretty OK, especially for long lecture series (and a lot cheaper).

I guess I'd recommend trying the cheaper solution first and if that doesn't work, drop hints that you wouldn't mind an expensive gift.

Reinhard

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Post by NoelFigart » Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:47 pm

reinhard wrote:Steve,
Noel,

A page at a glance? Is this some inborn thing, or a speed reading technique?
Reinhard
Inborn, I am sorry to say. I wish I could isolate the technique as I could make a fortune teaching it!

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Post by harpista » Tue Jun 05, 2007 5:01 am

NoelFigart wrote:
reinhard wrote:Steve,
Noel,

A page at a glance? Is this some inborn thing, or a speed reading technique?
Reinhard
Inborn, I am sorry to say. I wish I could isolate the technique as I could make a fortune teaching it!
And I thought I was pretty hot stuff reading in chunks (3 words at once up to a line). Whoa. :shock:
Nulla palma sine pulvere.
'No garland of victory without first the dust of the arena.'

Sometimesians, unite!

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Librivox

Post by stevecooper » Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:27 am

For those of you looking for a source of audiobooks; http://librivox.org/ is an attempt to take texts from Project Gutenberg, which gathers public-domain literature, and dictate it all onto MP3s, and put them into the public domain.

Or, free quality literature available for immediate download.

Sweet.

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Post by NoelFigart » Tue May 20, 2008 6:48 pm

Just to bump this.

I've spent most of today downloading free audiobooks from http://www.librivox.org.

The quality -- both of the recording and reading, is pretty good when you consider it is all volunteer and free.

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