Think listening to an audiobook doesn't count as reading?

Why we scan for social infractions

This story takes place in the past. Specifically, the first day of June, 2002. Germany had just played Saudi Arabia in the FIFA World Cup group stage, and I had something funny to tell my Dad. I had learned that prior to the match, Saudi goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Deayea had declared his intention to use the tournament to engineer a move to Manchester United. However, this plan suffered something of a blow when Al-Deayea went on to concede eight times to the Germans.

When I shared this backstory with my Dad, I expected to elicit a laugh. Instead, he left me stunned and a little ashamed. Without skipping a beat, he observed: “You see, Jack. People have such great ambitions for themselves.”

I think about that moment from time to time (and choose to forget that years later, when I reminded my Dad of it, he claimed he couldn’t recall and on reflection agreed that conceding eight goals was indeed fairly amusing.) His initial reaction was a more accurate reflection of his innate empathy.

I was reminded of it again as I stumbled across a neat bit of recent polling from YouGov. The headline figure is stark enough: 40% of Britons haven’t read a single book in the last 12 months.

But the statistical nugget that felt most 2025 was the question of whether audiobooks ‘count’ as reading. Let me first declare an interest. This is an audiobook stan account. Years of operating with thousands of tabs open – delving through Hansard, scanning journal articles and scouring government databases – have shredded my ability to sit down and read a book from cover to cover. I am the sort of colleague who might reply to an email with, “Can you put that in a voice memo?”

As it happens, just 29% of Britons say that listening to an audiobook is the same as having physically read that book. But here is where lived experience comes in. Amongst those who have listened to an audiobook in the past 12 months, that figure jumps to 69%, and 78% amongst those for whom audiobooks are the main way they consume books.

If you are anything like me, you spend at least part of your day unconsciously scanning for social infractions. Perhaps someone didn’t thank you sufficiently enthusiastically when holding the door open for them, or whispered to their neighbour at the movies, or, I don’t know, wore sunglasses inside. During a time of what feels like collapsing social trust, perhaps we ought to take a break from policing every perceived injustice.

I say this for my benefit as much as anyone else’s. Remember that other people have ambitions and disappointments. They may even consume literature in a slightly different way to you. Life is a rich tapestry. Sometimes it’s alright to live and let live.

There is, of course, one notable exception. If you catch anyone in public listening to music (or indeed an audiobook) on loudspeaker, politely invite them to connect to their headphones. Some social norms cannot be allowed to go unpoliced.

Have a lovely weekend. In my mind, I’ll be spending it on Martha’s Vineyard with Carly Simon, circa 1987.