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The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde · read by John Gielgud and Edith Evans

It tells a story. Hardcover files this book as fiction. A fact, not a factor: it plays no part in our call.

Either. Don't overthink it

Thin evidence · 58 ratings of this reading, short of the 250 we trust. So the call is made without the recording’s half of the case. Why we hold that line

Every book we have judged on how far the recording outruns the page: 201 of them, the page's answer at the left-hand end and the recording's at the right. Marked for scale: All the Light We Cannot See, To Kill a Mockingbird and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. This one sits in the top 8% of our shelf of books for how far the recording outruns the page. −0.40, where we start backing the page; 0.40, where we start backing the recording.The Importance of Being Earnest

Audio is the easier way into this one, and it is easier in audio than most books we hold (in the bottom 5% of our shelf of books for extra work in audio), but that is a fact about the book rather than a recommendation of any particular reading. Only 58 people have rated the reading, so it is not part of this call either way, and 250 is where we start letting a judgement about a reading move a verdict. With nothing we can say about the reading, and nothing about the book itself worth protecting the page for, it genuinely does not matter much. Pick whichever you will actually finish.

Length does not decide this

1h 44m to listen, at 1×1h 23m to listen, at 1.25×1h 09m to listen, at 1.5×59 min to listen, at 1.75×52 min to listen, at 2×about 3 hours to readabout 2 hours to readabout 2 hours to readabout 1½ hours to readabout 1 hour to read

The runtime is Audible’s own, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 89 pages at 30 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute. Treat the reading estimate as a ceiling on this one: this one runs 1.2 minutes of narration a page against a shelf median of 1.9, so its pages are lighter than the average we divide by (verse, dialogue, wide margins), and it will go quicker than we say.The runtime is Audible’s own, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 89 pages at 40 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute. Treat the reading estimate as a ceiling on this one: this one runs 1.2 minutes of narration a page against a shelf median of 1.9, so its pages are lighter than the average we divide by (verse, dialogue, wide margins), and it will go quicker than we say.The runtime is Audible’s own, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 89 pages at 50 pages an hour, which is about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute. Treat the reading estimate as a ceiling on this one: this one runs 1.2 minutes of narration a page against a shelf median of 1.9, so its pages are lighter than the average we divide by (verse, dialogue, wide margins), and it will go quicker than we say.The runtime is Audible’s own, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 89 pages at 65 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute. Treat the reading estimate as a ceiling on this one: this one runs 1.2 minutes of narration a page against a shelf median of 1.9, so its pages are lighter than the average we divide by (verse, dialogue, wide margins), and it will go quicker than we say.The runtime is Audible’s own, shown at the speed beside it. The reading time is our estimate: 89 pages at 80 pages an hour, the pace you told us. Ours is 50, about 300 words a page, read at 250 a minute. Treat the reading estimate as a ceiling on this one: this one runs 1.2 minutes of narration a page against a shelf median of 1.9, so its pages are lighter than the average we divide by (verse, dialogue, wide margins), and it will go quicker than we say.

Slot → chore-safe

About as demanding in audio as The Little Prince.

All the books we hold · 222

Easier to hear than 95% of the books we hold.

Fiction · 176

Easier to hear than 93% of the fiction we hold.

Short books · 57

Easier to hear than 95% of the short books we hold.

Reading load against listening load

Every book we hold placed by how much work it asks on the page, left to right, against how much it asks in your ears, bottom to top: 222 of them. Easy both ways is the bottom left corner, hard both ways the top right; above the dashed line the ears work harder, below it the page does. Marked for scale: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Diary of a Young Girl. This one is in the bottom 3% of our shelf of books for effort on the page and in the bottom 2% of our shelf of books for effort in your ears.
The dashed line is where a book would be same effort either way. This one sits below that line (the page asks more of you here than audio does), in the bottom 5% of our shelf of books for extra work in audio.
On the page−1.01
In your ears−1.71
Audio disadvantage−1.66

Where that puts this one among the books we hold: in the bottom 3% of our shelf of books for effort on the page and in the bottom 2% of our shelf of books for effort in your ears. The middle of the scale is not the middle of the shelf (most books sit below the average on both), so a book at 0.00 is already in the top 43% for effort on the page. Each of the three is measured against the whole shelf separately, so the bottom figure is not the top two subtracted. It is this book’s own distance from the middle.

What the audio disadvantage is made of. Two things and no others: how fast readers say this one moves, and how demanding the reviews we read found it. There is no third: the structural one has no data source, so it contributes nothing rather than being guessed at. Both directions are declared priors we have never fitted against a real verdict, which is the weakest-evidenced part of the whole model.

Every book we could measure both features on placed by pace, fast to slow, against how demanding the reviews we read found it, plain to demanding: 166 of them. The easiest listens are the bottom left corner and the hardest the top right, which is the shaded one. Marked for scale: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Diary of a Young Girl. This one reads faster than most books we hold and easier going than most, which is what leaves the format leaning towards the recording.
This one reads faster than most books we hold and easier going than most, which is what leaves the format leaning towards the recording.

How the call was made

Where a bar carries ticks, the grey one is the middle of our shelf and a coloured one is a line we publish, cool where we start backing the page, warm where we start backing the recording. The evidence squares at the foot are a different thing: how far each of our four sources went, hatched where there was nothing to measure at all.

The audio case
1.66With the reading left out, this figure is the format alone: it is easier in audio than most books we hold (in the bottom 5% of our shelf of books for extra work in audio). Past the line where we start backing the recording. But that line is a claim about a recording, and only 58 people have rated this one, so we did not make it.
Narration payoff
0.00The reading took no part in this call. It scored 2.55 below the middle of our shelf of books (the second mark on the bar), but only 58 people have rated it, short of the 250 at which we let a judgement about a reading move a verdict, so it is recorded at 0.00 and the call rests on the book and the format. No line is drawn on this row, because none was applied.
What is at stake
0.07It sits between the bottom 27% and the top 33% of our shelf of books for how well the print crowds think of a book: middling regard, so this barely moves the call either way. Blended across 416,004 Goodreads ratings and 680 on Hardcover, each scored inside its own population first, and never added together.

For the page

  • The crowds’ regard did not reach the line where we protect a first read, this reason did not apply

For the recording

  • Too few listeners have rated this reading, so we left the voice out of the call, this reason did not apply
  • An easy listen anyway
  • Only 58 listeners have rated this reading, under the 250 we ask for, this reason did not apply

Neither column won it: the two came out level, which is the answer above.

A bigger dot counted for more: the voice and the ear are sized by their share of the sum above, the other two by how much stands behind them. A hatched square is a reason that did not apply here, which is not the same as one that counted for little.

Evidence
0.88How much of the picture we actually have, out of 1.00: four questions, each answered as far as the source could answer it, less anything taken off for reading fewer reviews than we aim to.The reading58 people have rated this reading: thinner than we would likeThe second sourceHardcover knows this book, with 680 readers there: as good as it getsThe matchHow sure we are that the recording we scored is this book: as good as it getsThe reviewsWe read 300 reviews to judge how demanding it is: as good as it gets

What each crowd complains about

In the reviews we read, how often readers brought it up and how often listeners did, each against what is usual for that same crowd across our whole shelf, which is the grey tick. The track stops at 4×. Listeners are only ever compared with listeners.

Listeners of this book bring up keeping the names straight about one and a half times as often as listeners usually do, while readers of it bring it up less often than readers usually do.

What the two crowds said

Showing the stars as each shop prints them. The two crowds are not measured from the same place: on our shelf Audible’s listeners average 0.35 of a star above Goodreads’ readers, so a recording that is ordinary for Audible can still out-star a book that is genuinely well liked for Goodreads. Switch the toggle to take that difference off.Showing each figure as its distance from its own crowd’s middle on our shelf, in standard deviations, so 0 is a typical book for that crowd. Listeners start 0.35 of a star up, partly because anyone who finishes a twenty-five-hour recording chose it deliberately, and this takes that off. It is not a claim that audio is better, the story figure is still Audible’s own (people rating a story they heard), and none of it moves the verdict above.

58 ratings of this readingstar chartstoo few to draw beside the book’s, and 250 is where we start trusting the shape
4.28·Audible
overallAudible
overall, pooled by the shop, so we hold no ruler for it
61%5 stars: 61 per cent, 44 ratings
17%4 stars: 17 per cent, 12 ratings
15%3 stars: 15 per cent, 11 ratings
3%2 stars: 3 per cent, 2 ratings
4%1 stars: 4 per cent, 3 ratings

72 ratings · performance and story, as the shop pools them

4.33−1.27 sdAudible
the performanceAudible
the performance, against Audible’s own crowd
67%5 stars: 67 per cent, 39 ratings
12%4 stars: 12 per cent, 7 ratings
10%3 stars: 10 per cent, 6 ratings
7%2 stars: 7 per cent, 4 ratings
3%1 stars: 3 per cent, 2 ratings

58 ratings

4.69+0.62 sdAudible
the story, as heardAudible
the story, as heard, against Audible’s own crowd
81%5 stars: 81 per cent, 47 ratings
10%4 stars: 10 per cent, 6 ratings
7%3 stars: 7 per cent, 4 ratings
0%2 stars: 0 per cent, 0 ratings
2%1 stars: 2 per cent, 1 rating

58 ratings

4.17−0.05 sdGoodreads
the book itselfGoodreads
the book itself, against Goodreads’ own crowd
43%5 stars: 43 per cent, 177,581 ratings
37%4 stars: 37 per cent, 153,305 ratings
16%3 stars: 16 per cent, 67,671 ratings
3%2 stars: 3 per cent, 13,384 ratings
1%1 stars: 1 per cent, 4,063 ratings

416,004 ratings

Every reading we hold

Two complete readings of it, and one call above for the book: the verdict is a claim about format, not about a voice. Which voice to press play on is the next question, and this is our answer to it. Below 250 ratings of the reading we name a recording and decline to rank it.

  • John Gielgud, Edith Evansthe one we measured1h 44m1h 23m1h 09m59 min52 min · Two voices · Audible UK
    • We refused a machine-read edition

    Only 58 people have rated this reading, short of our published bar of 250, so we name it and print no scores for it.

    Hear it · Audible’s clip, its length read from them on load

  • B.J. Harrisontoo few ratings to judge2h 28m1h 58m1h 39m1h 25m1h 14m · One voice · Audible UK

    Only 14 people have rated this reading, short of our published bar of 250, so we name it and print no scores for it.

    Hear it · Audible’s clip, its length read from them on load

7 other listings we set aside, listed with the reason for eacheach one is sold as this book and is not a complete reading of it
  • Uncredited181 ratingsNot a straight reading of the book
  • Jeremy Clyde, Maurice Denham, Prunella Scales, Richard Pasco2h 22m1h 54m1h 35m1h 21m1h 11m · 110 ratingsNot a straight reading of the book
  • James Marsters, Charles Busch, Emily Bergl, Neil Dickson, Jill Gascoine, Christopher Neame, Matthew Wolf1h 58m1h 34m1h 19m1h 07m59 min · 39 ratingsNot a straight reading of the book
  • Uncredited1h 35m1h 16m1h 03m54 min48 min · 11 ratingsNot the whole book, only 64% of the full reading
  • John Gielgud, Edith Evans1h 49m1h 27m1h 13m1h 02m55 min · 7 ratingsNot a straight reading of the book
  • Full Cast Audio Drama, Tim Brooke-Taylor1h 56m1h 33m1h 17m1h 06m58 min · 3 ratingsNot a straight reading of the book
  • AI Voice Bob2h 42m2h 10m1h 48m1h 33m1h 21mMachine-read, not a person

The recording these numbers came from

Runtime
1h 44m at 1×
Read by
John Gielgud and Edith Evans
Kind
Two voices
ASIN
B004EVV4R4 · Audible UK
Judged on
58 ratings of the narration
Published
The Copyright Group · 2009

Too few people have rated this reading for us to call it our pick (our published bar is 250), so these are its details rather than a recommendation, and Audible sorts a search by newest, so check before you buy. The runtime is the check: if the one in front of you says 1h 44m, that is the reading these numbers describe. “Judged on” is the crowd behind every judgement we make about this reading: the smaller of the performance and story counts, which is why it is a little under the two shop counts added. We do not link out to a shop, and we take nothing if you buy there.