This might be too complicated for the "honor society Yale alum" (confirming many people's assumptions about low standards in New Haven's ivory towers) but here is a quick and dirty equation for brain usage:

puzzles > reading > TV

Reading is better than the idiot box, in that your brain has to paint a picture, but it is generally pulling off the shelf components to create a powerpoint presentation based on the author's words.

In puzzles, there is a need to make connections between words with crosswords or the potential locations for numbers in the various numbers puzzles.

There is a corelation with logic and jazz, an appreciation for what is there and what *isn't* there. In a book, if it isn't there, it isn't there. Is that stimulating? Not so much.