Is book reading a bigger waste of time than watching T.V.? (fantasy, character)

[UNC4Me]

Sorry, but no. Reading is NEVER a waste of time.

[believe007]

Lol I thought the question was asked jokingly......
But it's not.
Time spent in front of the tv is truly wasted time...
I call it being dumbed down by the media.
Time w/ a good book- is wisely invested time.

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson


If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.
– Toni Morrison


I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set,
I go into the other room and read a book.
- Groucho Marx

[OwlAndSparrow]

Books can contain great art.

Language is a beautiful thing; it's one of humanity's oldest institutions, and it's one of the main things that separates us from other species. Books are the high point of art based on language.

A really good book can let me experience some of the most amazing art ever created, and nother else can approximate that. That's not to say that there aren't other forms of art, but the kind present in books requires a page to appreciate.

Even books on tape tend to lose something, since their pace is relentless. Some of the linguistic pyrotechnics put on by my favorite authors demands re-reading and careful contemplation and even occasional visual cues in order to keep up and not miss anything. Any recording, or anything where the pace is set by a machine or by an actor or by any entity other than my attention and imagination, will pull me away from those moments, like a museum worker ushering a gawking visitor out of a showroom because it's closing time, or like a sunset that refuses to linger as long as I'd prefer to appreciate it.

Moreover, books almost always contain much, much more information than anything else. There is nothing anywhere that can compare to books when you want or need to learn something. Some people are convinced that the internet is just as good, but I've found that, especially when you really need to become an expert on something, the internet really only works when you find a .pdf version of a book and read that. Even then, I still like paper books a bit more, though I've got a nice library on my computer.

TV can entertain, but it can rarely enlighten. When you finish a really good book, you're a better person than you were when you started.


Edit: I say this as someone who really likes good movies and who uses them to practice listening skills when I study a language. I don't dislike television completely. I just think that books are better for a lot of things, and so television cannot replace books.

[mollygee]

Originally Posted by believe007

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set,
I go into the other room and read a book.
- Groucho Marx[/b]

Find a topic you love and read!!! Great for the mind and soul. Plus, these days, it is so nice to turn the TV off and curl up with a good book; my books go to cafes with me; when I must dine alone!! Can't imagine my life, without books. (My beautiful Mom introduced me to the library, then, could not drag me away from my reading. TV was not available..........how did we make it?)

Of course, here in Colorado Springs, we have the best library system!! That helps!

[Slap_Shot]

listen up........

TV dulls the mind. Reading improves it and strengthens it.

end of story.

anybody who says otherwise is just tryting to find a way to take the easy way out and watch the idiot box instead of read. LOL.

study after study says that one way to keep your mind intact in old age is to read.

can't say I ever saw a survey where it said to watch the boob tube.

[jtur88]

Book reading enables the mind to develop the skill of visualizing something on the basis of a verbal description. Which is not a bad thing to know how to do.

The world is divided into two camps: TV watchers who think Dorothy went to Oz wearing ruby slippers, and readers who think they were silver.

[badlander]

If you watch good documentaries and read trashy books might be different than reading great books and watching reality TV.

I read and watch some TV. I would watch more TV if more British mysteries were on though. With some of the British mysteries reading them is a lot easier and requires less skills than watching them due to the language difficulties. Occassionaly we have to use the closed captions to understand what was being said. I sure missed the closed caption ability when we were over in the UK talking to people.

[kevxu]

Originally Posted by TheBigGuy

If you're an avid book reader, this has happened to you more times than you can count: you get several dozen pages into a book or around halfway through before you think, "Man, this book isn't interesting at all. I thought it was going to be good, but I have no interest in going on at all."...

Actually, no. Almost never.

[AnneWest]

Originally Posted by badlander

I read and watch some TV. I would watch more TV if more British mysteries were on though. With some of the British mysteries reading them is a lot easier and requires less skills than watching them due to the language difficulties. Occassionaly we have to use the closed captions to understand what was being said. I sure missed the closed caption ability when we were over in the UK talking to people.

We use the closed captioning when watching BBC AND PBS all the time lol. I read an article somewhere that said that the British English underwent a big change at some point, and our American accents are closer to the original English of our settlers than the British are currently. I find this fascinating. Will try to find that article.

[I Am Woman]

Originally Posted by kevxu

Actually, no. Almost never.

Absolutely.