What is Reading?

I've been listening to a lot of audio books lately.  I find they are great to have on my iPod as I go for walks, mow the lawn, do yardwork or housework and especially nice while I'm hobbying.  I can get the audio books free from our library's web site and they have a large selection.  I have been hearing about other people listening to more audio books and I wondered if people are listening to more audio books, is that the same as people reading more?

When we teach kids to read, we tell them that they should be seeing images of what is happening in their head.  Reading is like watching a movie in your head.  Reading is getting engrossed in a story and or a world that does not necessarily exist.  When I listen to a book I visualize what is going on and I see the images.  Sometimes, I see the images even more vividly because the actual reading isn't using any of my mind power.  That aspect seems the same.

Thinking of books as art, we are exposed to good stories about people and places and trials and errors in both audio and text format.  I don't see much of a difference here.

When we read we are often exposed to language.  We see how language should look and sound.  We also see new words and hopefully, either through context or using the dictionary, learn what they mean.  As audio books have no text, we don't get any of this.  Listeners, especially younger ones are not exposed to the structure of language or new language.  If you have ever seen young people's writing, you'll know that they should be exposed to more proper language.  Maybe audio books are leading to the dumbing down of our society.  We will write in fragments and unintelligibly. One has to wonder who will write the audio books?

I think that reading and listening to books are two different experiences.  I think there is room for both, but I sure hope that audio never completely takes over.