Anti-TV Novels

I wish I had a long list of Anti-TV novels to review. Unfortunately, I could only find four:

 

 “Feed”

 “The TV Kid”

 “Fahrenheit 451″

 “Television”

 

Also, honorable mention to “The Traveler“, a thriller which mentions TV as a form of social control to be rejected by those in the know.

 

If you know of any others, please let me know!

 

 

 

The Power of Fiction

Novels, even though they are fictional can convey powerful political messages (for both good and evil).

 

Traditionally the power of fiction was understood, this was partly why Literature used to be considered an essential subject for the well-educated scholar.

 

 

Book Review: Read & Grow Rich

 

Read & Grow Rich: How the Hidden Power of Reading Can Make You Richer in All Areas of Your Life by Burke Hedges

 

Despite the kind of cheesy title, I actually really liked this book. The Author, Mr. Hedges was not a big reader, but reluctantly decided to read a self-help book that his sister-in-law had recommended. This book not only inspired him to read more books, it actually inspired him to change his life, to make the changes necessary for him to grow rich, both materially and spiritually.

 

Reading self-help books, although very helpful for many people, is also considered kind of déclassé. This is ironic since traditionally, studying the humanities (including Literature) was considered a form of self-help, a respected way to understand humanity and oneself.

 

This is something Mr. Hedges touches upon when he lists a number of historical self-help books such as Pilgrims Progress and Walden. Both are popular self-help books, that are also considered Literature.

 

 

Top 10 Reasons to Turn Off Your TV

Mark Stibich, Ph.D of About.com: Longevity has come up with an excellent:

Top 10 Reasons to Turn Off Your TV

My favorite reason is # 2 (and a big reason why I gave up TV)

Television Makes You Stressed

With the average of four hours a day gone, it’s no wonder everyone is feeling stressed out and overwhelmed. We put aside paying bills, finishing projects, making phone calls and cleaning our homes to watch TV. We feel overwhelmed because of all the things we should be doing (exercising, spending time with family, eating right) go undone. And when we feel overwhelmed, tired, and exhausted we don’t have energy to anything but — you guessed it — watch TV. It is a dreadful cycle. So take a break from TV for a week and see what happens to your life.

For years I had wanted to be better organized. But it wasn’t until I had substantially cut down on my TV watching (my weaning from TV was gradual) that I became inspired to actually take concrete steps towards a more organized life.

A Late Post on 2008 TV-Turnoff Week

 

Congratulations to the participants of this year’s TV-Turnoff week !!

 

I had wanted to do a roundup on this year’s TV-Turnoff week, but it looks like Sarah of  Unplug Your Kids beat me to it, and of course did a such great job, I’ll just link:

 

Unplug Your Kids: Inquiring Minds Want to Know…

 

Unplug Your Kids: Impressions of a Week Without TV