“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies” - George R. R. Martin. This means that when readers read a book, they start a new life by reading another book. Books are able to transport us in ways that films cannot by providing us with richer context. Although a strong case could be made that watching a movie first is better than reading a book, this reasoning is unconvincing because movies don’t provide the audience with enough context.  Reading a book before the movie gives you more knowledge about the plot and builds vocabulary.       

First of all, reading a book gives you more context. Oftentimes, a movie director must shorten the novel to fit the story within the time frame of a movie. This means it is up to the director’s discretion to decide which details should be excluded or changed to fit the time frame. This could leave the audience feeling like they are missing something throughout a film, or book lovers disappointed given the value they place in the original story.    

Furthermore, reading a book builds your vocabulary because the more books you read, the more words you are exposed to. Knowing more words increases your language and helps you in conversation. For example, when you are speaking to people who are really bright, you can speak up to them like a professor because you understand what they are saying. The larger vocabulary bank you have, the more social contexts you can be actively participated in. 

Although it has been argued that watching  a movie before reading a book is better, this argument is unconvincing because books are truer to the message the creator of the story wants to convey. For instance, movies have a time frame and can only include certain details whereas in books they provide solid details and tell more about the setting. When the director tampers with details, they are tampering with the story. It is the equivalent of a police officer tampering with evidence in a criminal case, if not more important!

In conclusion, we can see that reading a book first is better because it gives you more context and builds your vocabulary. However, the reasons behind why reading a book first is better are limitless. The two I have discussed are merely the start of it. Books also help people to critically think, use their imagination, and gain more knowledge.  If we don’t encourage people to read the book first then my fear is that literature will fade out with cinema taking its place. If this happens, people will never know the capabilities that a book has to transport us outside of our world.