📘 Part 3: Books and reading

This episode's vocabulary

Inclined (adj.) - likely or wanting to do something.

Unsurprisingly (adverb) - in a way that is not surprising.

Portable (adj.) - light and small enough to be easily carried or moved.

E-reader (noun) - a small electronic device with a screen that allows you to read books in an electronic form.

To festoon (verb) - to decorate a room or other place for a special occasion by hanging coloured paper, lights, flowers, etc. around it, especially in curves.

The sky's the limit (idiom) - there is no limit.

Sensory (adj.) - connected with the physical senses of touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight.

Undoubtedly (adverb) - used to emphasize that something is true.

To unfold (verb) - if a situation or story unfolds, it develops or becomes clear to other people.

Condensed (adj.) - (of a piece of writing) made shorter in length.

In-depth (adj.) - done carefully and in great detail.

Attention span (noun) - the length of time that someone can keep their thoughts and interests fixed on something.

Questions and Answers

M: How could reading books make people happier?

R: Apparently, the more you read, the greater the perspective it gives you. And you start to appreciate what you have and what might be possible if you did things differently. That's especially true when you read the biographies of great people and realize the... Well, great things you can accomplish.

M: How might eBooks like people read more?

R: Naturally, if they're smaller and take up less space then you can carry them around more easily and so be more inclined to read them. Sometimes just making things more convenient is enough.

M: What's the difference between ebooks and paper books?

R: Rather unsurprisingly eBooks are more portable and available in greater numbers. I think are more accessible to the vast majority of people. However, if you're blind, then you still might need something more specialist.

M: Do people prefer ebooks or paper books in your country?

R: Quite surprisingly, most people seem to have stuck to regular books. Although many have tried an e-reader at least once. I think it's down to the difference and experience and sense of accomplishment you get from physically getting through an actual thing.

M: What can children learn from books?

R: Same things as adults, though, in a simplified format, presumably, since they're younger and less sophisticated in their thinking. If you go to any school library, you'll see they’re festooned with all kinds of books that cover everything. So it must be the case.

M: For example? So what exactly can children learn from books?

R: Anything. Like it could be how to cook or it could be... Well, if they've got a simple recipe book. It could be how to be a good friend. If they see some examples in the stories they read. The sky's the limit pretty much.

M: What's the difference between reading books and watching films?

R: Well, the sensory experience is undoubtedly very different. With books, the action unfolds in your mind the way you understand it. With films, it's unfolded for you, in the way the director and others understand the material, though, well, through sound and other parts of cinematography.

M: What benefits does reading have for people?

R: Generally it allows them to live the experiences and learn lessons from others in a condensed format. That's pretty cool when you think about it. So you save time. I suppose other positive things might include developing your imagination and vocabulary. There are loads of new and interesting words and concepts and books to learn about.

M: How could reading books help people learn more about different cultures?

R: Most obviously by raising their awareness of how other people live without having to actually visit the places. You could learn that through a documentary, but books are more in-depth since they can be engaged with over a longer period.

M: Do you think people will read more in the future?

R: It depends on what you mean by more. Because if attention spans are getting shorter, then they will not read texts, which are as long but they might read the shorter texts more often than they read the longer ones now. So it depends on how you're defining your terms.

Discussion

M: Right, dear listener. How are you doing? So, Rory's favorite topic "Book and reading". So Rory is an author, he has already written four books. He is writing his fifth book. So wow.

R: But let's not get too excited just yet because they're not finished it.

M: Yeah, he is on his way. Reading books could make people happier. The more you read, the greater the perspective it gives you. So what do you mean by perspective? So it gives you a greater perspective. On what?

R: Yeah. On life that's really about what's possible by far okay.

M: So kind of you are not limited by one way of looking at life.

R: Yeah.

M: But you have like different perspectives, right? So it's kind of like it broadens your view, right? On life.

R: Yes.

M: And the structure, the more, the greater. So the more you read, the smarter you become. The more you read, the happier you get, for example. And you start to appreciate what you have. Right? According to Rory. And then examples. It's especially true when you read through biographies of great people, right? Because you look back on your life. And then you think, oh, okay, what about me? What about my life, you can, I don't know, learn from the movers and shakers of this world. So from the great people of the past.

R: You would hope so.

M: And you can realize what great things you can accomplish. So accomplish, and achieve the great things that you can do. Ebooks and paper books. So we call them ebooks, or electronic books. Online books? What other synonyms?

R: Oh, I think those are the big ones. Just ebooks or electronic books. But if you said that, then you would probably be an older person.

M: And then ebooks take up less space. So they are online. So they are inside your smartphone, or inside your device or in the laptop, which is massive. But if you read from your smartphone, ebooks take up less space, right?

R: Ideally, yeah.

M: Yeah, but like paper books, they could be doorstoppers. So they could be massive. And it's not really convenient. So we say convenient to carry them around. So you have to carry around paper books. But eBooks are more convenient because they take up less space. But I think people read books from their smartphones, right? People used to have these special e-readers. Special devices for reading books. But now everything is inside your smartphone. What do you think? What about Scotland?

R: Well, I think...

M: Freedom.

R: Yes. There is freedom, allegedly. I don't know, I think the experience of using an e-reader and using a phone is a bit different because of the screen brightness and things. An e-reader is specifically designed for this purpose, whereas your phone is multi or general-purpose. So it might not be as effective at the job of reading ebooks.

M: So the difference between eBooks and paper books? Paper books, or we can call them hard copies. Hard copies. Or print... Print books?

R: Printed I suppose.

M: Printed. Yeah. Printed books. Printed books or paper books. So eBooks are more portable, so you carry them around. They are portable, they are inside your smartphone. And they are available in greater numbers. So I think you can download an unlimited number of eBooks. But you have a limited amount of space at home, right? To store your paper books. Ebooks are more accessible.

R: But that just means they're easier to get hold of and read.

M: Some paper books could be very difficult to find, right? Or you may have an electronic book. But you might not have a paper version of this book, for example. In your city, or in a shop you have to kind of go to different bookstores and look for it. Or it could be more expensive. Yeah? Most people seem to have stuck to regular books in Rory's country. Scotland. Freedom.

R: But that means they just continued to read them, in addition to eBooks.

M: Yeah. But the structure is like most people seem to have stuck to something. So regular books, like paper books. So they seem to have stuck. They seem to have chosen regular books. They seem to have stuck, have stuck because they have already done it in the past. So they have chosen regular books. So I wonder what's going on in your country, dear listener? What about most people in your country? Because I think, oh, it's a physical question. Like we have audiobooks now, we have eBooks. So what do people prefer these days? I don't know. But still, we can say that many people still prefer regular books. Then Rory told us about e-readers. But an e-reader is a device. Right, Rory? It's not an eBook? It's a device, an e-reader.

R: Yeah, it's a thing that you read eBooks on. It's specifically designed for this.

M: And people prefer regular books. Because or like it's down to the difference. So it's because of the difference. So a very nice structure. That means like, because something. So I think it's down to the difference in experience. Like it's due to the difference in experience. It's down to the difference and also a sense of accomplishment. So you get from physical getting through a book. So when you get through a book, you finish a book. And physically, kind of you, you finish it. And like, yeah, you feel this sense of accomplishment of achievement. But when you do it with an online book. Yeah? With an eBook, it's kind of like... You don't, you don't feel it physically. Then we go to dull and boring questions. What can children learn from books?

R: What can people learn from anything? I mean, I don't know. This question is a bit weird.

M: And then Rory just told us the same things as adults. And then the examiner can ask like, what specifically? And then Rory started giving me examples like how to cook. The sky is the limit. So pretty much anything they can learn from books, but I wanted you to tell me something like, what can they learn about life and morals. Or...

R: Well, then you should have asked that specific question.

M: But the question is like, what can children learn from books? Like what?

R: Quite literally anything?

M: But kind of what, what exactly?

R: Well, I mean, let's think about this. Just what a book looks like, to begin with and how it's read, we could go as simple as that. Or it could be how to present information if they see the different colours and ways things are presented. It could also be how to derive meaning from context too if it's used in a classroom environment. There are so many different ways this could be used.

M: If you go to any school library. They are festooned with all kinds of books. Festooned?

R: Covered.

M: Oh, wow. Festooned. Give us another example with this strange world.

R: Well, a Christmas tree, well, it's coming up to Christmas now. A Christmas tree could be festooned with decorations.

M: Wow. Is it positive or negative?

R: Oh, well, here it's positive.

M: For example, the hall or the room was festooned with Christmas lights. It was decorated with something. Kind of with lights, flowers, paper. And a very nice idiom. The sky is the limit. Yeah? So this kind of like, there's no limit.

R: Endless possibilities.

M: Yeah, endless learning possibilities from books. And the difference between reading books and watching films. So the sensory experience. Sensory. We have our senses. So when you read and when you watch films, the sensory experience is undoubtedly different. Without any doubt, it is different. And then you explain, with books, the action unfolds in your mind.

R: So you can see it in your head.

M: Yeah. You see things in your head. The action unfolds, or the story unfolds in your mind. With films, it's unfolded for you. So it is unfolded, it is done for you. It is shown to you, you don't have to imagine anything, you just like, you're given things. So we use the passive voice. So the action unfolds in your mind. With films, it is unfolded for you. And the director and actors do the job. And then again, a typical IELTS question. What benefits does reading have for people? Advantages and disadvantages.

R: But I think we did a pretty good job.

M: Yeah. Books allow us to live the experiences. So even if I haven't been to Africa, I can read the adventures of some people in Africa and I can experience those experiences. I can live the experiences and learn the lessons of others. In a condensed format, you meant what?

R: Just in a short form, in a short way. So instead of having the whole experience for yourself, you read about it, and that's a shorter version.

M: Yep. So you save time, instead of going to the North Pole yourself, you just read a book about it. And also reading helps you to develop your imagination and vocabulary. You develop your vocabulary through reading. And also if you read out loud, you develop your speaking skills, your pronunciation and you develop, you enrich your vocabulary in your mother tongue or in a foreign language you're learning because there are loads of new interesting words, loads of, a lot of. Words and concepts, like love, hate, joy, and you can learn about different concepts. And again, like what can children learn from books? They can learn about different concepts, such as love, hate, betrayal, war, and peace. Yeah? Joy.

R: War and Peace.

M: War and Peace. Yeah. So children can't experience such things in their lives because they are too small, right? Or maybe they don't have the conditions for such things. So they can experience them and learn about them through books. Learn about something through books. What about the disadvantages? Are there any drawbacks of reading, Rory? What'd you reckon?

R: Well, everything's got an opportunity cost. So if you spend time reading, then you're not spending time doing something else. But what else could that be? I don't know.

M: Reading could help you learn more about different cultures, dear listener. So it's also about culture. So it raises awareness of how other people live, and what other people do in other places. So you could learn about other cultures through a documentary, biographies, through novels, right? Through fairy tales, you can learn about space. So books are more in-depth. So they give you depth. So details about a certain culture. So you can watch a documentary. Documentary? Like on TV, but a book on the same subject will give you more depth, so will be in more depth. And also books could be engaged with over a long period. So you can engage with a book over a long period. So it just stays there. You come to the book, you pick it up, you read, you put it down, then you come back to it. You see? So it's kind of like it's your friend. Books are our friends, who don't call you, who don't text you all the time, who just ask nothing of you. But when you need it, you can pick it up and start reading. So you can engage with it at any time. Don't forget about a short attention span. So now people tend to have a short attention span. And maybe in the future, most people will read shorter texts. So it's difficult for us to read a massive article. But it's easier for us to read short posts on Instagram, or short blog posts on Facebook or Telegram. So maybe this will continue in the future. Or maybe vice versa, like people will start reading longer texts.

R: They might. I hope they will. That would be good for their attention span.

M: Thank you very much for listening! We'll get back to you in our next episode. Okay? Keep reading. And if you want to check out Rory's books... Rory, where are your books? Can I find them on Google?

R: You would if you typed in my name, but you won't be able to. You could also look for them on Instagram. But on the subject of writing things. I also did something very special with this episode because I answered every single question with something called a comment adverb. These are advanced structures which are used to indicate how you feel about a subject. So things like apparently, naturally, rather unsurprisingly, quite surprisingly, presumably, undoubtedly, generally, and most obviously. And I have created a little document for people. If they would like to get a hold of that, then they are very welcome to message me on my Instagram when they're looking for my books, and I'll be happy to give it to them.

M: Yes, I want the document. I want the document with adverbs. Adverbs are informal. They are great. They give you this variety and band "nines" to your answers. Okay, dear listener? So if you want to raise your score to band 30. Band 30... Yeah, do use adverbs like they are really for a very high score. Okay? Rory, please, could you send me this super document? And thank you very much for doing this.

R: Of course! Thank you!

M: Bye!

R: Bye!

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