Come on over to the New Website: AUTHORAPPLETON.com

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Book Readers

Books have stood the test of time. Their form may have changed from engraved stone tablets to scrolls and then to pages fitted between two leather/cloth-wrapped boards, but people love books.

Have you ever wondered why it is that watching too many movies or playing too many video games gives you a headache and drains your ambition to go out and do things? The well-used phrase 'couch potato' is well put.

I believe that the primary difference between reading a book and watching a movie is the sort of task your brain is performing. If you watch a movie (particularly one you have already seen) your brain is tuned to relaxation, brainless activity. But if you pour over a book you learn new things and must rove your eyes over the pages instead of staring at a screen.

It has been scientifically proven that people who exercise their brain through learning and creativity live longer, healthier lives. I remember reading a news article once on a group of nuns in their 90's who regularly knitted, sewed, and read. Their eyes were healthy and their minds sharp . . . I wonder what would happen if nursing homes dispensed with television sets and encouraged reading. I am certain alzheimers patients would dimish greatly and, in fact, perhaps that is why memory loss is so prevelent today whereas it was not seventy years ago.

Well, that's all, I guess, that I had to say. I need to get cracking on my fiction writing and novel edits....

1 comment:

Fair Maiden said...

I definitely agree. Reading a book is always so much more rewarding than watching a movie or spending an hour on the computer. I know that when I spend too much time on the computer my eyes start to hurt and I start to get a headache that goes away if I go and do something else. However, that never happens when I read a book or doing something else that's productive.
~The Fair Maiden~

WELCOME TO THE WRITING SITE OF SCOTT APPLETON

"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones." -Proverbs 16:24

In a world where morality is forsaken and Christ neglected, wholesome books are uncommon. The themes of my writing are love, self-sacrifice, and honor.

I see my generation turning from God to the gods of this world. I see homes torn apart in the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification. Children are murdered by the millions every year . . . without ever seeing the world outside their mothers' wombs. Through fiction I strive to encourage those who are willing, to stand against these things and be heroes and heroines; chivalrous, gentle, full of righteous indignation, and the fear and love of their Creator.