The first chapter of the exceptional book Three Cups Of Tea by Greg Mortenson (about starting schools in Afghanistan)  is now online in a multimedia version — with audio support for the text.

I’ll quote from the announcement:

This online version is a multimedia e-book with the display oftext phrasally cued and synchronized to the narrator’svoice.

The user can control the reading experience in two ways. First, the overall reading rate can be slowed by increasing the length of pauses (control over the left-hand pages), particularly useful for English language learners.

Second, the user can advance the text highlight, relative to the narrator’s voice.  This is important, particularly for the user to read aloud in chorus with the narrator. The book has been developed in conjunction with the annualactivities of Long Beach Reads One Book.

I’ll probably place the link on my website under Reading.