Last time I tried, I kept finding myself mentally wandering. Hard to stay focused. Your experiences if any?

I love them on long drives , I hate flying so I do drive a lot.

In fact last time I drove to Florida by myself I took 4 or 5. :)

Also a friend is saying go to the gym and listen to them whilst working out so I'm going to give that a crack. :)

The other thing is that at the local library they have hundreds , and they are "free".

Strangely I don't like buying them , whereas book I love buying books. :)

Yeah, books add up to a nice library.

I just picked up a iPod so maybe i will download some audiobooks.

Colin, I'm just the opposite. I find that when reading a book I get fidgety and my mind wanders. With audio books I have no problem at all. Go figure...

I couldn't learn from lectures in school. Only from reading the materials. Did you have the opposite experience?

I haven't tried the audiobooks just for that reason. I have trouble listening to spoken (not sung) words on the radio so I suspect mind my would be all over the place with an audiobook.

My brother and SIL listen to them all the time when driving - they love them!

I listen to the music but not the words. I don't really know the words to any songs.

I couldn't learn from lectures in school. Only from reading the materials. Did you have the opposite experience? [/b][/quote]
Hehehe - exactly. I would sit there with a pad and pen and write down everything the teacher said. Still do that. Ask Gonzo how much good it does to tell me something instead of putting it in writing. B)

id much rather read the material. I think it has to do with the way people process information.. some are better at absorbing dictated lectures, others would just rather read the lecture material. All the lectures i ever attended i just read the material and wandered in and out, unless it was somebody fascinating.


My ex fiancee working on her phd at columbia allowed for good access to the Columbia lecture circuit, when i lived in the City.

I listen to the music but not the words. I don't really know the words to any songs. [/b][/quote]
LOL! We are twins separated at birth - I am the exact same way. I rarely if ever even know the names of the songs. And don't even ask me who sings them unless I liked it enough to track it down.

Hehehe - exactly. I would sit there with a pad and pen and write down everything the teacher said. Still do that. Ask Gonzo how much good it does to tell me something instead of putting it in writing. B) [/b][/quote]
This is why it was good for me to major in physics. Lectures were insignificant compared to working on problems. If I had majored in something where the lectures were really important I would have probably been in trouble. Though some of my classmates did learn by listening to the physics lectures. I never got that. I learn by doing. I just stopped going to classes senior year.

Exactly.I had a few professors who wow'd me into paying attention. Other than that, just as you described it.

I get you. The only time I ever knew lyrics was from when I was in my teens and read the lyrics from the album sleeves. Probably why I like instrumental music so much (jazz, classical and so on)

Exactly.I had a few professors who wow'd me into paying attention. Other than that, just as you described it. [/b][/quote]
yeah, there aren't that many professors in the college of engineering and sciences that had a flare for the dramatic. Although i had a rare series of attractive female astronomy professors over a year. that was interesting. I liked taking the literature classes and history classes simply for the lectures. Professors in these colleges had that sort of passion and interest in the material. Plus there is something to be said about spending some of spring or summer session outdoors and out of a lab or lecture hall.

Yeah, I found history lectures to be much more interesting than physics and math. Not because of the material but because the material lends itself to a better lecture.

I am amazed by the Feynman Lectures. He was a rare teacher.

Yeah, I found history lectures to be much more interesting than physics and math. Not because of the material but because the material lends itself to a better lecture.

I am amazed by the Feynman Lectures. He was a rare teacher. [/b][/quote]
i love Feynman, I especially enjoyed The Pleasure of Finding things out and his audiotape lectures.his QED stuff is staple, but in Feynman i see a lecturer that i would put in the fascinating category, along with Vonnegut, Penrose, and Hawking,etc. simply for the air about him in his writing and lecturing.

Actually, it was the opposite for me in school. The lectures never did a whole lot, and I learned by reading the textbooks. Maybe I'm just getting old and want to listen rather than read... heh

Yeah, good stuff. Of course, I didn't get the audio lectures.

i have a couple on cd. they are very good, even if they can lull you. putting a voice to the mind was the best part. There are a bunch of his lectures available at amazon.com.

the thing i liked most about the later lives of these people is the philosphical perspective they had on everything, given their history and background. The understanding gained from experience is fascinating reading material.