The best book you ever read.

• Author: Saltzman, Joe

READING WORDS off paper is fast becoming a luxury most Americans are willing to deny themselves. There are just too many ways to be informed or entertained: computer CD-ROMs, e-mail and the internet newsgroups, old-fashioned radio, and the new television entertainment center--at least 150 channels available by satellite, videotapes, laser discs, interactive TV games, and programs.

People still dash out to buy the latest best-seller by Stephen King or Michael Crichton, but more and more consumers are listening to recorded books rather than picking up a paperback or hardcover edition. If it seems like a throwback to ancient times, it is. Oral news and stories were the only way the masses received information and entertainment until the printing press became a reality. And, even then, only the rich or the scholarly could afford the luxury of reading a book.

There is something magical about hearing a story read to you. It conjures up loving adults taking time to amuse or teach a child, or a friendly clergyman trying to help members of his parish learn the errors of their ways, or a mountebank selling dreams by mesmerizing an audience. Everyone loves a good story, and having it told to you can be a very pleasurable, warm experience.

It may be true that reading has its own special rewards. It lets the individual savor words and secret meanings at his or her own pace, pausing to think, rereading a special paragraph, skimming pages at will. But it is essentially a solitary, if often exhilarating, experience. Only when you discuss the fruits of what you have read does the experience become something to share. Listening to an author or an actor read the story to you is much more sociable.

One reason these audio books are so popular is that they are so easy to listen to. You can listen to them anywhere--at work, at play, while exercising or walking, and, as is most often the case, driving to and from work. The range of books is as large as most print-only libraries--from self-help manuals to best-selling novels, from sci-fi to thrillers, from celebrity biographies to comedy books, from John Grisham and Tom Clancy to the classics. Smart audio publishers either get the authors to read the works themselves or hire actors with familiar voices to narrate the action.

Most of the books have been compressed to three to four hours and sell for about $17 apiece. Many public and university libraries have a good selection, making it easy to try almost any audio...