Trucker Rod Hannifey says he is a huge reader on the road, which terrifies the pants off people who don't know the road train driver is referring to audio books.
On a return trip between Melbourne and Dubbo a week ago, he had "read" Robert Harris' An Officer and a Spy, which was "good," Kathryn Fox's Cold Grave, only "all right", and fantasy/science fiction Hothouse by Brian Aldiss. "I didn't really get into that," he said.
Across NSW, particularly in rural areas, the audience for audio or talking books is booming.
Farmers on tractors are listening during harvest, workers in remote areas, ranging from lawyers to miners, are borrowing for the long drives between jobs, families are borrowing books for those unable to read to themselves, and schools are using them to introduce children with literacy problems to the rhythm of language.
Audio book sales by Melbourne-based Bolinda, Australia's only talking book company, have quadrupled in the past four years, said Rebecca Herrmann, the company's publisher. It now has more than 30,000 titles, and has just released The Water Diviner, read by actor Jack Thompson (his first audio book.) Truck drivers like Hannifey are evangelists for the product, some of the most loyal customers the company has, Herrmann said.
Because many people can't afford to buy books online, Bolinda developed BorrowBox for public libraries to share their collections. By clicking on the box, and using a library card, members of libraries can download audio books and ebooks.
Pulling up in his prime mover outside Dubbo's Macquarie Library shelves, he finds it difficult to choose a book that he likes or hasn't read, although the collection of 3961 audio books now populates two large rows in the middle of the busy regional library. A truck driver who is on the road for six days most weeks, Hannifey has borrowed books from libraries in Wagga to Dubbo and from truck stops across the country. (Some truckers say the books are "better than drugs" at relieving the tedium of the road.) He estimates he has read hundreds and hundreds of books as he drives. He's open to most things, and has read the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy, and only said no the Vampire Diaries.
These days most productions include professional actors, going beyond the earlier versions developed for the visually impaired; "When they first started audio books, they were done for people who were blind. And they read them out like this: 'And The Man Said', he intones. "Now it is two voices, and sound effects."
Hannifey is also technology agnostic: he's listened to books on cassettes (the second Lord of the Rings' 30 cassettes mounted on a single spindle was tricky to manage in a truck), podcasts, playaways (like a Walkman), CDs and MP3. His favourite book was the story of Nancy Wake, the "little white mouse" as the Australian woman who became the Gestapo's most wanted woman was known. He has loved most Tim Winton books, dipped into Nora Roberts romances, and listened to as many trucking stories he can find (including his account of Rock n Roll trucking on the U2 tour). Like most truckies, he has a voracious appetite for Australian stories.
Hannifey urges fellow drivers to take the opportunity to educate and entertain themselves with something more substantial and varied than the usual fare of crackling radio stations that go in and out of reception and the steady diet of country and western music. "These are something that teaches you, and helps your vocabulary," he said.
According to Alex Byrne, NSW State Librarian and Chief Executive, public libraries have developed sophisticated services in response to the increasingly diverse needs of our communities.
"Books, resources and collections are being made available in a wide range of formats and languages in libraries, online and in some cases via home delivery. They offer resources to support learning English, run internet workshops for seniors and provide targeted programs for kids and families. People in NSW can also download over 2500 ebooks from the State Library's catalogue no matter where they live."
