BOOKS OR T.V.?

By Harvey Tobkes

I vote for books as being more entertaining. Of course, there are good and bad in each category, but overall I prefer books.

Here’s why!… Books stimulate your mind and arouse your imagination. Your mind is thinking without you being aware it is happening. If it is non-fiction, you are probably learning something new, or getting a viewpoint or perspective of the author. Novels may do that and more because you focus on a character and put yourself in the personality or role the writer created for one of the characters in the story; you can even imagine you are that character. You may try to guess where the plot is going, and if you come across a paragraph or a page that is confusing or brilliant and wise, you can easily re-read it. Perhaps there is a similarity to reversing a DVD, but it’s not quite the same.

I could ramble on and on about what I like about books, and let me assure you I am not a snob, as I certainly watch and enjoy TV, especially baseball, football, tennis and basketball. I guess with most of us, it’s a matter of what percentage of your leisure time do you devote to one or the other. But one huge advantage books have…there are no commercials.

You may ask, how come I did not include the mighty computer as a third category? That’s easy… once you have been bitten by a “mouse” it’s an addiction, and therefore, an unfair comparison.