It it said that one picture  is worth a thousand words.

So:

1 picture = 1000 words

It is also studied that human eye can process 24 frames/second (there is context dependency though, read more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate#How_many_frames_per_second_can_the_human_eye_see.3F

So:

1 second = 24 frames (pictures)

One movie for example has in average 90 minutes that means:

One movie=90*60=5400 seconds

One “good” book has in average 400 pages (rough estimation)

Book=400 pages

I see there are averages for number of words per page =275

One page = 275 words

It appears I can use number of words as a common measuring system.

For movie we have:

Movie = 5400 seconds = 5400 * 24 frames = 129600 frames = 129600000 words

For book we have:

Book = 400 pages = 400 * 275 words = 110000 words
Basically we have a movie values 1000 books

This “laborious” study of 30 minutes shows that people show wait for the movie before reading the book and not vice-versa

(Waiting for opinions on what is wrong with this “study”)

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1. Tim Western says:

   October 15, 2010 at 8:11 pm

   There’s one problem with your premise, many movies made from book cut a lot of detail, plot development, characterization, etc out in order to keep the movie within certain time limits. Now that is not to say those left out parts would equal the amount a movie has, but how many of the frames in the movie are repeats, filler, or noise that you quickly forget and throw out anyways?

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   • Eusebiu Blindu says:

     October 15, 2010 at 8:24 pm

     Agree. This was intended to be like a mock comparison, not realistic. But on the way of doing the post I found some “arguments” for it and now it looks almost like a valid statement. Of course repeated, slow motion scenes, or bad play is another side that was not taken into account.
     But on the other hand someone pointed out that in movies there is sound, special effects some other “advantages”.

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