Reading

My wife and I often have this argument. I read a lot of books, but with three kids I don't have a lot of quiet reading time available at home. What I do have is a 40 minute commute, one way. So I check out books on cd from the local library and read in the car.

My wife says that I cannot call this reading, that it is only listening. Granted, I am hearing the book but my argument is that if someone asks if I have read a certain book, I would be lying if I said no. My brain ingested the story, so to me that is what reading is.

She takes a different tact. She says that if listening is reading then that means that our 1 year old can read.

I contend that the ability to perform the act of transferring written symbols into language inside your head is not the reading I'm talking about.

So which is it?