We have more time on our hands than we think. According to a 2017 study, the average driver in the UK will spend 32 hours a year in traffic jams. In 2016, the Trade Union Congress found that around 3.7 million workers spent more than two hours commuting each work day.
Furthermore, research for cleaning experts Jeyes claims that the average Brit spends nearly 21 hours a week on household chores. That’s 45 days a year on everything from doing the washing up to tidying up, ironing and walking the dog.
On the whole, these activities represent sheer drudgery. Yet there’s little reason why these monotonous, repetitive undertakings should send us spiralling into an intellectual netherworld. This goes for other less-humdrum tasks – be they running, working out in the gym, cooking or taking a bath.
Instead, we should see them as fresh windows of opportunity to enrich our daily lives. A good audiobook, documentary or podcast can be just right for transforming the banal into something genuinely entertaining or instructive. Indeed, as a recent study by University College London – in collaboration with Audible – demonstrated, listening to an audiobook can be even more emotionally engaging than watching films or TV.
Testing scenes from stories across a range of genres on more than 100 people aged between 18 and 67, the research conclusively showed that audio produced a stronger physiological response in participants compared with video adaptations. This was indicated by a greater fluctuation in both heart rate and electrodermal activity.
Given this power to engage the emotions of listeners, audio content offers a great opportunity for escapism during dull chores or a punishing commute. Ever listened to Audible Original’s Treasure Island on the underground? Try it. Creaking claustrophobia, stale air and rattling carriages give way to high seas, gold and mutiny. You are no longer a dour-faced commuter but young adventurer Jim Hawkins; the guy next to you, Long John Silver.
Comedy and Monday morning might seem odd companions, but I defy anyone to listen to Alan Partridge’s 2011 memoirs par excellence, I, Partridge, and not raise a chortle. Read by creator Steve Coogan, Norwich’s most famous son is brought to life in all his horrendous, score-settling glory.
Although containing significantly less hubris, Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler’s autobiography, Yes Please, is no less entertaining, and offers up a genuinely charming insight into friendship, parenthood and love. Guest vocal appearances from the likes of Seth Meyers, Patrick Stewart and Kathleen Turner all add to the fun.
Of the chores mentioned above, washing up is perhaps most conducive to a strange mood of contemplation – being elbow-deep in suds is an immersive experience, in both a literal and figurative sense. An absorbing podcast or piece of audio journalism can be just the ticket in this instance.
One of the picks of last year, Jon Ronson’s The Butterfly Effect, delves into the world of free porn as part of his latest sprawling investigation. Far from being salacious or judgmental – despite traditional perceptions of the subject matter – this podcast is both eye-opening and, in places, deeply moving, and was nominated for the Audie award for nonfiction 2018.
In addition to being an extraordinary storyteller, Ronson possesses a voice that is homely and soothing in tone – a sibilant mesh of south Wales and north-west England. In some instances, one might be forgiven for selecting listening material based almost exclusively on the reader’s brogue – especially when going to sleep at the end of the day.
Stephen Fry is surely the nation’s favourite reader, lending his voice to numerous audiobooks, which range from the Harry Potter series to Paddington Bear and Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection.
Another reader who’s well worth setting your Audible sleep timer to is Sean Barrett. In possession of resonant, rich and honeyed tones, Barrett is best-known to English-speaking listeners as the voice of Jo Nesbo. He is also the reader of Michael Robotham’s latest psychological thriller The Other Wife.
Scarlett Johansson also does a decent job of tackling Lewis Carroll’s dizzying assortment of characters in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
More solitary pursuits – think an overnight road trip or a long-distance run – can afford a kind of intimacy to heart-on-sleeve audiobooks. Actor and comedian Robert “Peep Show” Webb’s autobiography How Not to be a Boy proved something of a revelation last year, with its poignant depiction of childhood and losing a mother young.
Similarly, to hear the late, great Maya Angelou read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings from beyond the grave is at once compelling, moving and vital.
Of course, what you choose to listen to, and where, boils down to subjective mixing and matching. There is no rule of thumb here. For some, listening to no-holds-barred drag queen Bianca Del Rio dispense self-help advice in Blame it on Bianca Del Rio might be the perfect accompaniment to watering your herbaceous borders this summer; others might plump for Don’t Throw In the Trowel!: Vegetable Gardening Month by Month.
And we are spoiled for choice too – Audible has the world’s largest selection of audiobooks available to download. Doing the ironing never seemed so appealing.
Your first audiobook is free with a 30-day trial from Audible – £7.99 a month after 30 days. Renews automatically
