Tom Clancy audio books are rising in popularity and are being found not only in the large bookstores but also in libraries and smaller shops all round the country. In fact they are popular world wide in line with Clancy's ability to entertain universally.

Not only is Jack Ryan becoming known to an audience from which he has previously been hidden, but the Netforce team is also rising in popularity. These, and more, are increasingly becoming converted to audio formats. You can find audio books everywhere now, and a medium that at one time was used only for the classics of literature, or a few author's such as Barbara Cartland and Agatha Christie, is now available to readers of a wide range of popular authors.

Audio books were originally developed for the blind, and the normally sighted tended to stick to the written word. There are many people, however, who are normally sighted but for whom reading is a seriously difficult activity. This can be for a number of reasons, none of them their fault, and the rise in popularity of audio books has brought the delights of literature also to them. There are now many Tom Clancy fans that otherwise would never have come across him or his characters.

It was only the demand for them that resulted in more and more of the modern authors being converted to audio format. The reasons for this increased popularity are unclear, though it could be connected partially with the number of motorists who have discovered them an excellent way of keeping themselves entertained on long journeys, and also in the increase in their quality with the invention of CD. Peer-to-peer file sharing software might also have a lot to do with it, since audio books can now be downloaded from the internet.

A major factor in the quality of an audio book, either one of Tom Clancy's or of any other author, is the quality of the reading. Most authors have their own perception of how a book, or even just an individual character, should sound and write their characters around that. A good reader is able to project the original intention of the author, and hence more of the sense of the novel than somebody merely reading the words without thought of their intended meaning.

It is this too, that can connect a listener with the reader, if both have a similar perception of the character. Therefore, file sharing, which is normally free after the payment of a membership fee, is popular since it enables people to download different versions of the book. They can then choose to listen to the version that they like best.

Another reason that audio books became popular is possibly that libraries began to stock them. As more and more libraries stocked more and more literature in audio form then a demand grew for the more popular authors to be offered in the same format. Tom Clancy was amongst them since not only was he a well known and popular author, but his tendency to write series on specific characters such as Jack Ryan, or groups such as Netforce, rendered his novels ideal for audio series.

CDs are preferred by many people who find that more sense can be made of a book when it is read to them, this often starting in childhood. It might even by a psychological throw-back to the bedtime story days that most people have had, and there might be something comforting in having a book read to them. Whatever the reason is, there is little doubt that audio books are rapidly increasing in popularity.

Tom Clancy audio books are available singly or in sets, such as the Jack Ryan series of books, and Tom has undoubtedly increased in popularity through them. They are available not only from physical bookstores and libraries, but also from online outlets such as Amazon and file sharing networks. Audio books are here to stay, and the world of literature has been opened up to a wide audience, far wider than just those with impaired vision or learning disabilities.