Lectures on tape for the blind?

[Ratty]

My elderly, bedridden father has lost his eyesight due to macular degeneration. Recently we were talking about radio interview with Jared Diamond, author of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. He was fascinated by the concept of the book and discussed it at length with me. I decided to get the audio version for him to listen to. Looking through the book, it seems rather dense and tedious in places. I'm thinking a ten minute interview about a book is quite different than reading the entire book itself. He hasn't started listening to it yet, so we'll see.

I'd like to start getting him some interesting things on tape to listen to. He's interested in all sorts of things, especially popular science, astronomy, sociology, history, classical music, biographies. He might also love books or lectures by famous CEOs and financiers--how they made their money, that sort of thing. I'm going to try more books on tape, depending on how this one goes, but I'm thinking interesting and engaging lectures would be especially entertaining. A great deal shorter than a book and designed to be spoken rather than read, that would seem to be ideal. I have no idea where to begin. Can anybody suggest some good ones or tell me some places where I might go to look for them?

[CatBoreal]

1. What about the Massey Lectures...

Stephen Lewis did this year's series. I think you can buy them on tape from the CBC as with most of their other programs.

Here's a link to the 2005 Massey Lectures: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/massey.html There are links on that page to some of the previous lectures as well.

Good luck! I think it's great what you're doing for your father. :applause: :yourock: :applause:

[Ratty]

16. That's a good site

Just the sort of thing I'm looking for. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to order stuff but I'll get it eventually.

[CatBoreal]

20. Go here...

http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/transcripts/m.html, scroll down to the Massey Lectures. You can also purchase other Ideas show transcrips from there as well.

If your father has a short wave radio, he would probably enjoy the Ideas show with Paul Kenedy. It's on at 9:05 weekdays on CBC Radio One.

Here's a link to the main part of the Ideas website: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/index.html

And here's a link to the RCI Schedules and Frequencies:
http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/en/horaires.shtml

That should be enough to get him started.

Let me know what he thinks.

[Ratty]

25. That does the trick

The link they provided didn't work. Yours does. I'm bookmarking it for a detailed read tomorrow. Except for "Magic Numbers." I'm ordering that one right now! Thanks again.

[southlandshari]

2. I have tons of books on tape - one piece of advice

I used to travel 3-5 days a week as a regional trainer for a nonprofit group, and books on tape saved my sanity - otherwise I was lost in a sea of Dr. Laura and bad local FM stations! I joined "Audio Adventures" almost ten years ago - a company that rents audiobooks at truck stops across the country. It's great, you can rent in one state, return in another. Or mail them back. Or keep them for months and then return with no late fees (shhhh...I don't think that's company policy, maybe I've just gotten lucky!).

Anyway, my one bit of advice is that a lot of the newer books are only coming out on CD instead of cassette. Does your father have a CD player? Might be a good investment. You can get a little CD boombox at the-store-that-shall-not-be-named for $20 or so these days!

I'm cleaning today - I'll go through my boxes of audiobooks and see if I've got anything of interest for him, if you want to PM me your address. My taste in audiobooks was more legal thrillers, crime investigation, political nonfiction - stuff that would keep my mind alert on long hauls.

The public library here has a decent selection of audiobooks. You can also download audiobooks online, just do a search on "e-books" - that should get you started.

Hope this helps! Your father is very, very lucky to have you!

:hi:

[Ratty]

11. My sister and I discussed that

Does your father have a CD player?

He does have a CD player but we're not sure how he would stop at a certain spot so he can come back to it later. It has a remote control too which seems awfully convenient. Still, we decided a cassette tape would probably be best. I can record them from CDs because, as you've noted, audio tapes are very hard to come by. Mostly they're only available used, but that's okay.

I have never known him to read fiction. He's really fascinated by sciency things. This 10 minute astronomy program on the radio is his absolute favorite and he gets grumpy if he doesn't wake up in time to listen to it. He's always been especially fascinated with the collapse of societies, from years back. Appeals to his pessimist side.

[southlandshari]

21. I understand.

The remote would allow him to pause at any point, though, right? I don't know about standalone CD players, but mine in the car allows me to skip chunks of the CD, but then use the rewind and fastforward features to move within those pre-set stops.

Try your local thrift stores, too. People are discarding books on cassette like crazy these days.

:D

[khashka]

15. She's right

A lot of stuff isn't being published on cassette but on CD instead. Still, a lot of it is downloadable

Definitely ask your public library. They tend to have stuff that might not otherwise be readily available. And inter-library loan is a wonderful thing. Find something you want, but it's in Boston and you're in San Diego - they can get it for you. And librarians are usually pretty hip to the latest way to get what you need.




Khash.

(Shari used to hang out in truckstops? I thought she was a nice girl!)

[southlandshari]

17. Ahem.

Yes, I used to hang out in truckstops - they still fascinate me. I love, to this day, any exit that boasts a Love's, a Pilot and a Flying J all in one little cluster!

And I AM a nice girl, too!

:P





















P.S. Don't you EVER respond to PMs from anyone but tjwmason?

;)

[khashka]

22. Hey, milady!

I was backing you up! What part of "She's right" didn't translate. (LOL)

And if I respond to TJ quicker than I respond to anyone else, well cut me some slack, I'm smitten with him. And can no longer be responsible for myself.

Khash.

[jane_pippin]

3. Library of Congress. My dad is blind from MS and that's how he gets his

books on tape.

I'm not sure exactly how it works--he's been doing it since I was a teeny tiny kid--but somehow blind people can use this service through the Library of Congress that provides you with a tape player (I think)--my dad still has this big old thing from 1984 and I think he said it came from them--and you get a catalog of titles that you can choose from that they just mail to you in these giant green plastic cases.

I don't know if they have interviews/lectures but I know they have magazines because he gets Newsweek every week so who knows, they might.

[jane_pippin]

5. Here's a link to the service:

http://www.loc.gov/nls/

If he's eligible he should try it out--looks like it's free too. My dad loves it.

[southlandshari]

6. How cool!

I never knew this was available for sight-impaired people. For some odd reason, it restores a bit of my faith in the good will of humans towards one another - whoever came up with that program has my deep respect!

:thumbsup:

[jane_pippin]

8. Yeah, who knew, right? It's such a good program. I credit it with

helping me learn to read and with giving my dad a way to help me learn to read. (And of course with helping my dad stay current with whatever he wanted to read).

He used to check out kid books from the LoC and I'd get the same book from the library and we'd sit down and listen to a page, then I'd read a page or whatever--it was fun.

I'm with you--whoever thought it up deserves a lot of thanks.

[Ratty]

9. Funny you should mention it

my dad still has this big old thing from 1984

He's extremely hard of hearing too. Can you imagine? He has as CD player/boombox but his favorite is a small battery operated radio because he can hold it up to his ear. He won't tolerate earplugs or headphones. I can relate to that. So now I've been spending days searching the web for assistive listening devices and they are all decidedly high tech FM/infrared and everything I've found uses headphones or earplugs. I'm just trying to find a very low tech speaker you can plug into a radio or tape/CD player and hold it next to your ear. He lives in the wrong era I guess. I'm off to Radio Shack this afternoon to try and find something. Lord knows the web isn't any help.

My Dad has always been a voracious reader, but always magazines, newspapers and specialty newletters. I've never known him to be much of a book reader, which is why I'm cautious about books on tape. Who knows, I mean if you sleep all day but are awake all night alone in bed, you'd be desperate for just about anything. I've been going to the bookstore looking at interesting books he might like so I can order the audio version on Amazon, but I'm going to start checking out magazines too. That never occured to me. I'll have a look at what LC does--I'd forgotten they do that.

[jane_pippin]

12. This program offers listening devices too--maybe they have something that

would work. It's all free so it's worth at least checking out.

And on top of that I'm pretty sure that you could get this monitor/magnifying thing that lets you slide magazines/papers or whatever under it and then it displays them on the monitor all blown up from the service too. (I don't remember because my dad's had MS since I was 3 and I forget what he got from where, but he's had this monitor thing forever too and I think that's where it came from.)

I'm sorry to hear about your dad, but he's lucky to have someone like you to help him out.
Good luck in your search for reading material/equipment.

[trof]

4. Our library has a pretty wide selection. CD player good idea.

More and more of the audio books are on CD.
Like Southland Shari, we never leave on a road trip without plenty of audio books. We tend to like histories and bios more than novels.

I guess he could master the CD controls by feel.
And if he puts a CD in upside down and nothing happens, he can just flip it over.

We had a good friend who loved to read. When her eyesight got too bad she said audio books were a godsend. I have a touching photo of her on our patio in early autumn sunlight with her headphones on and her eyes closed.

[southlandshari]

7. Hey!

We should arrange a big audiobook swap sometime - you aren't that far away, my friend!

I bought a LOT of them before I discovered Audio Adventures. I probably have 60-70 audiobooks on cassette, 20 or so on CD, around here. You know what they cost - I try to forget! One of the better ones I have on CD is "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer (about the violent history of the Morman church and its extreme element in America).

I'll send you a list of what I've got. When are you guys coming through central Alabama (that town I will not name here) again? We really need an Alabama meetup, yes?

:hug:

[trof]

10. Is that a Moon Pie?

Your avatar?

I would like to have a meet up sometime.
I think either Tuscaloosa or Montgomery might be central.
What do you think?

Of course it would be fine with me if everyone wanted to come to the beach, too.

PM me with where you are.

[southlandshari]

18. Of course it is!

:D

We've talked about a meet-up in the Alabama forum several times - I volunteered to organize one at one point, then switched jobs and real life got overwhelming. I am quite sure I was an advocate of all of us coming to stay with you for a meetup on one of those threads!!

I'll send you a PM shortly - but put it this way...I could have walked to the game last weekend! ;)

[trof]

24. Gotcha. Mungumery would be good then?

[southlandshari]

27. Absolutely

Probably the most central, at least in terms of roads leading in and out, for all of us!

[Ratty]

13. Oh my gosh, MORMONS!

I forgot. Mormons. He LOOOVES Mormons. He's not one himself but for some reason he's always admired their clean living ways. I don't have the heart to dissuade him. When I go to the bookstore later I'm going to see what they have on Mormons. I bet he would just love that.

[southlandshari]

19. I am pretty sure that many great Mormons want no part of

the parts of the history of their religion and the present-day extremists Krakauer examines in that book. Much like I want no part of the shameful history of white oppression of blacks in this country in the not-so-distant past - and will do all I can to undo their legacy of hate here.

That said, "Under the Banner of Heaven" is a fascinating read/listen. If you can't find it, I'll be happy to dub it on cassette and send it to you.

:D

[Ratty]

23. Under the Banner of Heaven ...

... probably wouldn't go over well with him. I think he would be scandalized (but in a good way) about a detailed account of Mormon polygamy, I might look for something about that. On Amazon Mormon America: The Power and the Promise looks to be interesting and the table of contents has things that would interest him. The prose is a bit dense though.

[southlandshari]

28. That book

has a great deal to say about Mormon polygamy, its origins and its present practice. I'd say that's the focus of half the book, actually. Look up some reviews, that will be the best guide as to whether or not it will be something that will interest or upset him!

I still say your dad is a lucky guy father to have you!

:pals:

[khashka]

14. Audible.com

Books on tape, regular programming of interesting discussions. It might be worth trying.

Sorry to hear about your Dad, that really sucks. Sounds like he's still involved and interested and isn't going to let the macular degeneration get him down. Buy him an iPod (Christmas is coming!) and check out audible - books,magazines, podcasts, all interests and downloadable to an MP3 player.

Khash.

[joneschick]

26. check your public library

my husband highly recommends The Teaching Company lectures, all sorts of terrific topic areas. http://www.teach12.com/teach12.asp?ai=16281
But then, we're fans of libraries forever!