Books are my favorite media. I grew up in the sticks (Adams Township was still sticks until about 5 years ago) outside a small farming town without cable (until my sophomore year in high school) or the internet (much later). I didn't see my friends outside of school or Boy Scout meetings unless we had our folks drive us down into town, so most of the time, my brother and I just played out back or went for hikes. When I got tired of that, I went down into the cellar and perused an old set of Encyclopedia Britannicas that my grandma had given us awhile back; I remember being mostly fascinated with history and space.
As I got older, I read everything I could get my hands on and became a huge science fiction fan. Heinlein, Niven, Pohl, they all became demigods to me--I must have read every piece of literature on space in the Mars library! During this time, my teachers gladly fed me some classics as well and I guess I never stopped reading.
The written word is the first form of media after language and song, so hopefully we can hang onto that. I wouldn't be too happy if it was gone.
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Another vote for books. The printed word is alive and well-- What are your thoughts on novels? Because readers must tap in beyond experience/pictures in our heads/etc. do they go deeper/richer than other media?
I guess that depends on who is reading them and what kind of novel it is. A pulp western isn't the same in terms of depth as Tolstoy. But I definitely agree that novels force readers to go past the pictures in our heads, at least to a certain degree.
Richer than other media? Again, I'd say that depends on the audience.
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