# Tell us why you prefer movies to books (or the reverse).

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-you-prefer-movies-to-books-or-the-reverse/535040>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 5, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-you-prefer-movies-to-books-or-the-reverse/535040 "2010-04-05T17:07:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-you-prefer-movies-to-books-or-the-reverse/535040/21 "2010-04-06T14:52:50Z")

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I’ve got no attention span for books. I’m one of those people that can read three pages of a book and realize my mind had wondered and I have no idea at all what I read, my eyes were moving back and forth, my fingers were turning the pages, but I wasn’t actually reading. I’ve been this way all my life (made school a bit of a struggle). Movies keep me much more engaged, and if I find myself bored with one (or a part of it) I usually have a laptop next to me and I’ll take a look at the IMDB page and find out who’s in it, what else they’ve done etc…

Or as Jim Gaffigan said "You know what I like best about movies…_no reading"_

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**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-you-prefer-movies-to-books-or-the-reverse/535040/22 "2010-04-06T15:01:40Z")

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Might as well answer my own question.

I much prefer books.For me they are far more immersive; I can lose myself in text in a way I rarely can even with a movie I love.

It seems odd to me that people give brief attention spans as a reason to prefer movies to books. i am havin gmore and more difficulty sitting still long enough to appreciate a movie, but books are no problem, as they permit me to choose my own pace.

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-why-you-prefer-movies-to-books-or-the-reverse/535040/23 "2010-04-06T15:25:36Z")

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> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> books are no problem, as they permit me to choose my own pace.

I do that with movies. If I need to slow down, I can pause it and come back later (later being a few days later to a few minutes later if I just need to digest a certain part of it or anything in between). If there’s a slow part in the movie my DVD player has a handy little 1.4x speed button that can get me through dull parts but without the disadvantage of missing something by fast forwarding. If it’s a movie I’ve seen several times and enjoy I can just have it on in the background while I make dinner or surf the internet. I can still get stuff done, but tune in for parts I like.

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