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At Listening Books, our library is made up of audiobooks from publishers like Penguin and HarperCollins, as well as audiobooks we record in our studios. So, as well as audiobooks read by celebrities such as Stephen Fry, we also work with narrators who volunteer their time. If you've borrowed a Horrible Histories audiobook from our library, or swotted up before an exam with a York Notes A Level guide, then it was most likely made in our studios.
July 31, 2018
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Audiobooks have a powerful impact for people less able to read or hold a book. Here, Listening Books member Margaret* tells us how they have changed her life.
April 9, 2018
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Nicholas de Garis is the Audio Producer for Listening Books. He works in our in-house recording studios making educational audiobooks for our Sound Learning service. Abigail Jaggers spoke to him about what an Audio Producer does, what's involved in editing an audiobook, and his dream audiobook to record.
January 22, 2018
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For every heart-breaking novel or laugh-out-loud comedy, there are stories that scare us silly. They are the ones that stay with us, or that we scare our friends with. No matter how many times we read them, they frighten us over and over again. So why do we like scary stories so much?
October 23, 2017
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There are many reasons why some people think audiobooks might not be for them. I know, because I used to be one of those people. I thought my tiny attention span wouldn't be able to tolerate listening to the same person read for ten hours. Or I thought that it might not feel like I'd really 'read' a book. I now hang my head in shame and admit how wrong I was. All I needed was a great first audiobook.
September 4, 2017
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It sounds like a cliché, but I've always loved to read. My journey into personhood was guided less by those around me and more by the worlds I inhabited and the people I met on my fictional travels. I wanted to be Matilda for ages. I genuinely thought that if I read more books my brain would become so advanced I’d be able to close my curtains without leaving my bed.
June 23, 2017
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This week is MS Awareness Week, and the Multiple Sclerosis Trust are celebrating specialist MS nurses and the work they do, as well as making it a priority that everyone living with MS has access to a specialist nurse.
April 25, 2017
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When you read something, you first need to detect the words and then to interpret them by determining context and meaning. This complex process involves many brain regions.
March 20, 2017
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I am an educator of educators. I teach others how to be the best teachers. But, I’m also different. I have learning challenges. I found my way and my life’s calling thanks to dedicated educators. As we celebrate the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), I am reminded of my personal journey. My disabilities could have defined me. But they did not. I do not consider myself dyslexic or learning-disabled. I am Jim. And here’s the story of how I overcame my challenges and the educators who helped me along the way.
February 27, 2017
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Mental Health Day happens once a year, and is a great way of raising awareness of mental health and mental illnesses. It's important, though, that the awareness and the messages present on Mental Health Day don't get lost on the other days of the year. We've picked some tweets that are useful reminders on how we might view our own mental health and that of others - saved here so you can look again whenever is useful.
October 10, 2016
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