All other things being equal? I'll say "video" over book -- just recently I did the California/Boston plane flight, almost 7 hours when you're going the wrong direction, and I had both a book and a DVD with me (both Shakespeare). Although I flipped through the book to get an idea of how it would be, I chose the DVD for the bulk of my viewing time.

Now, having said that, it's certainly a contextual thing. If I'm on vacation, and it's 6am out on the balcony while the sun comes up and the rest of my family is sleeping? Book. If it's 10pm at home and I'm downstairs on the treadmill? TV.

I've had Tivo/DVR for years, and gotten so used to it, that I have the bad habit of watching junk. Rather than put on a Discovery Channel or Science Channel or something, I tend to flip it to old recorded sitcom reruns, just for the mindless entertainment. Not only is that a waste of my time, it also means that I have to keep picking a new program every 30 minutes. that's a habit I really need to break.

I'm not a big fan of silence, it's like you're deliberately turning off one of your senses. When I need to concentrate on something I put on music - but the wrong music makes it very hard to concentrate on something like reading.

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