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  • talking book
    talking book
    noun
    a phonograph record or tape recording of readings of a book, magazine, etc., made especially for use by the blind.
  • Talking Book
    Talking Book
    noun
    a recording of a book, designed to be used by blind people
Synonyms

talking book

American  

noun

  1. a phonograph record or tape recording of readings of a book, magazine, etc., made especially for use by the blind.


Talking Book British  

noun

  1. a recording of a book, designed to be used by blind people

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of talking book

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Each stunning string instrument leaning against the stark white wall is a tally and talking book, marking the value of a period of relative solitude and reflection.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2025

From its inception, the talking book faced a lot of the same questions over its relationship to text that audiobooks do today.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 16, 2019

As Rubery notes, “The talking book only exists because a group of people had no access to books.”

From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2016

That was before the D-word revolutionised the talking book market.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 30, 2012

The dislike of the British public to be “talked book to” may be healthy or unhealthy; but if it takes no great heed of this kind of talking book, small blame to it!

From Matthew Arnold by George Saintsbury

On October 24, 1972, Stevie Wonder released his 15th album "Talking Book" and the world heard the infectious grooves and seamless vocal delivery of the song "Superstition" for the very first time.

From Salon ● Nov. 12, 2022

“It’s still a little newish for us,” says Sarah Jacobson, director of the Texas Talking Book Program in Austin.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 15, 2022

Other, humbler branches are featured as well, like the Performing Arts building and the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2017

Even more famously, “Superstition,” Wonder’s greatest single recording, was inspired by and penned expressly for electric-guitar maestro Jeff Beck as a thank-you for playing on Wonder’s 1972 album Talking Book.

From Slate ● Dec. 18, 2016

He’d later buy me my first album, Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book, which I’d keep at his house on a special shelf he designated for my favorite records.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

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