Editing Audiobook (section)

{{Short description|Recording of text(s) being read}}
{{Redirect|Talking book|the album|Talking Book{{!}}''Talking Book''|other uses|Talking Book (disambiguation)}}

An '''audiobook''' (or a '''talking book''') is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are [[abridgement]]s.

Spoken audio has been available in [[school]]s and [[Public library|public libraries]] and to a lesser extent in [[Record shop|music shops]] since the 1930s. Many [[spoken word album]]s were made prior to the age of [[cassette tape|cassettes]], [[compact disc]]s, and [[MP3|downloadable audio]], often of [[poetry]] and [[Play (theatre)|plays]] rather than books. It was not until the 1980s that the medium began to attract book retailers, and then book retailers started displaying audiobooks on bookshelves rather than in separate displays.