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As someone who listens to a _lot_ of audio books, I'll admit that the majority of them are quite entertaining but are definitely not worth vaunting over other forms of entertainment. Most of the more intellectually demanding reading I do tends to not even come from books, but rather from things like academic papers, blog posts, and long form articles.

I'm quite sure even before the internet has been a thing, most people only read cookbooks, car/sport magazines and Twilight equivalents by the time.

> ...visions of Benjamin Franklin danced in my head...

On a side note, Benjamin Franklin is a wildly fascinating person. I highly recommend Walter Isaacon's biography of him. One of the most interesting (in a good way) humans I know of. I think most people would be surprised at how well they can relate to a man who lived in the 18th century. Check out his humorous essay on farting[1] if you want to laugh.

[1]: https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/to-the-royal-ac...

Agree. I have a friend who, to put it kindly, is more brawn than brain.

Voracious reader. Dozens of books a year, all swords & sorcery. Not really anything he could learn from.