Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Book or film -- which is the better value?

Many theaters are already sold out for the premiere of the latest film in the Harry Potter series, "The Half-Blood Prince."

Fans will pay around $9 apiece for 2 hours and 20 minutes of spooky entertainment. For J.K. Rowling fans, however, this is some of the most expensive Potter-time on the market; each minute will cost the viewer $.064.

Expensive compared to what, you ask? Compared to those take-anywhere, electricity-independent, high-value things called books. Books are a 39% better value.

How so? The average reader reads 250-350 words per minute. Let's use 300 for our example.

The Potter books word count and current prices on Amazon are:

Sorcerer's Stone --76,944 -- $8.61
Chamber of Secrets -- 85,141 -- $8.61
Prisoner of Azkaban -- 107,253 -- $8.61
Goblet of Fire -- 190,637 -- $8.61
Order of the Phoenix -- 257,045 -- $10.18
Half-Blood Prince -- 168,923 -- $10.18
Deathly Hallows -- 198,227 -- $8.24