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My current read is Brandon Sanderson's "The Well of Ascension". The book is rather long, almost 800 pages: much longer than the other books I've been reading since I picked up fiction again last year. Though I have admittedly been very busy in the last several weeks, after over a month I am only a third of the way through.
This evening I found myself reflecting on the return-on-investment of a book. It's often been pointed out that books cost about the same as a DVD but usually provide many more hours of entertainment. But also occurred to me that while a high-caliber movie takes millions of dollars and thousands of personnel to create, it takes only one talented writer to craft an excellent story. Printed books require no extra energy to be consumed multiple times by multiple people, and the character and world-building depth contained in a book easily surpasses the abilities of almost any movie, video game or TV show.
I've been wanting to simplify my life and reduce my footprint on the world, especially from an energy perspective. I'd almost forgotten how good books are at doing precisely that, while simultaneously providing almost limitless entertainment.
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[Last updated: 2023-04-26]