I love to read works of literature. To me, literature is one of the greatest expressions of art. Novels, novellas, poetry, plays; all are incredibly beautiful in their own way. To some this may be because of the emotions these stories provoke or to others it could simply inspire deeper thought. Whatever the case may be, it is evident that people love literature. We see this for thousands of years -- dating back to the oldest story to survive the sands of time, "Gilgamesh," to modern works such as "The Fault In Our Stars," by John Green.

For thousands of years, we as a species have enjoyed this written form of storytelling. Some of us worship Gods from books centuries old. We know the history of literature, it hasn't gone anywhere; however something quite new has started to make a massive impact on our society and culture in the modern world. The entertainment business has been creating movies for a little over a century. This, when compared to the thousands of years for works of literature, truly is a short time.

The entertainment industry has been booming -- from the first motion picture, the first movie with voices, the first movie in color, and so on. Then, with the creation of the internet it has become so much easier to spread movies around the world faster than ever. This has, no doubt, helped the movie industry grow; yet when a book is turned loose from its pages and onto the big screen, it is commonly said, "The book was better than the movie." Why do people prefer the book to the movie?

I love movies because it is a temporary escape from our reality. It is enjoyable to watch a film and the outcome tends to be pleasing, leaving the viewer a little happier than before they started. Movies are also much shorter than novels. As an incredibly slow reader, I can usually finish two chapters in the time it would take me to watch the entire movie that was based on the book. So movies are visually pleasing, less time consuming, and can be exciting at times. So how can a simple book beat that?

I always like the book better simply because, more often than not, there is much more detail in the novel. If you are watching the movie of one of your favorite books, then you would know that there is always details that the movie missed. Another thing that bugs me is when the director and writers for the movie Hollywood the story up. They will sometimes bring in more love into the movie to attract a larger audience of people. This works wonderfully for the movie producers, but it tends to ruin the story for those who took the time out to read it. This actually happened to one of my favorite books -- Robert Heinlein's, "Starship Troopers." The directors took a minor character who actually dies within the first chapter of the book, changes the character's sex, and then turns it into a love affair. So are the books always better than the movies?

Simply because the book, more often than not, is the original inspiration for movies, it does not mean that the book is always better. The entire argument is subjective in nature in that it is highly opinionated. I mean that every single person will start a movie or book with expectations. If they are met then they enjoyed it and if not then it was a failure. Yet every person will look for different things. For example; with Heinlein's "Starship Troopers," the book was intellectually incredible. It touched upon total globalization, philosophy on leadership, and a central conflict of man versus man, and man versus self. The movie worked with love, nationalism, and the brutality of war. The book was an incredible read to me, but not to someone looking for romance; much like the movie was incredible for romance and war, but not for someone looking for any thought provoking topics.

So my stance of the topic of books versus movies is that they both are incredible in their own ways. Movies are short, entertaining, and to the point. While books are more detail orientated, thought provoking, and timeless. It is merely based on the individual preference on whether your favorite movie was better than the book or not. Regardless, we can conclude that there is brilliance wherever you find it.