Audio Books: A Cure for Road Rage

Oddly, music (even The 15th Floor’s “From the Dining Room” album) cannot consistently soothe my road rage monster, but a good audio book can. My drive to work isn’t long by most standards, 20 minutes, but through a part of Scottsdale and Phoenix rife with the type of drivers that can wreck my mood– and thus my day– in a hurry. Yes, I know, I shouldn’t take it personally, and I try… but by the fifth time the Camry pulls out in the fast lane forcing me to brake, then goes ONLY the speed limit, AND the Range Rover (or BMW) on my tail is so close I can see the driver’s shade of lipstick in my rearview… it’s a good thing my car isn’t equipped with missiles. It has always been clear to me the only one harmed by my frustration and anger is me and the best way I have found to be almost completely oblivious to it is through audio books.

A good book puts me in the slow lane and if I get cut off or miss the light, yippee!, more time to listen to the book. Music can help, but the standard 3-4 minute song is too short to keep my mood and emotions controlled for the entire 20 minute trip. In fact, if a driver breaks the mood of the song I am listening to, it pisses me off even more, especially when I find that rare song that really moves me. Classical music lasts longer, but thanks to my mother playing piano at bedtime, it puts me to sleep. With a book, I hardly notice the other drivers. (I suppose some would say this could be a bad thing.)

There are many ways to listen to an audio book while driving, but I mostly use the old fashioned, simple cheap method of checking out the CD’s at the library. This option has a more limited selection. Other downsides include the time it takes to go to the library, frequent skips or damaged CD’s, and the safety factor of changing CD’s while driving (not recommended) especially when the CD case has slid onto the floor behind the passenger seat. It is very frustrating to reach the end of disc #5 and not be able to put in disc #6 until exiting the highway or coming to a red light (in which case a red light can produce a major YIPPEE!)

I have just started downloading audio books from the library. So far, this has worked well to listen on my IPOD on the airplane, but I haven’t hooked the IPOD to my car recently (need new connecting device.) Downloading from Audiobooks.com, Audible.com, or even iTunes, can get pricy for the number of books I would go through—and I almost never read a book twice (notable exceptions: Tolkien, Vonnegut, Douglas Adams) so no need to own– it would cost a minimum of about $15/month for the cheapest of these plans.

I suppose I could put in the soundtrack for Les Miserables every day, but then I would be crying instead of shouting all the way to work.