Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death
Redaktioneller Bericht - Kirkus ReviewsThis is billed as an ""epistemological"" study of the effect of TV on discourse in America, reducing it to ""dangerous nonsense."" Yet, no reasoned argument is offered to support this thesis. Instead, the reader is subjected to non sequiturs, exotic examples--""Puffs of smoke are insufficiently complex to express ideas on the nature of existence, and even if they were not, a Cherokee philosopher would run short of either wood or blankets long before he reached his second axiom""--and arcane references. The reader emerges more confused than ""amused."" Reading this is an act of self-punishment; worse, it yields up no new perceptions whatsoever. Postman cannot top McLuhan's discovery that the medium is the message. (""If all of this sounds suspiciously like Marshall McLuhan's aphorism. . . I will not disavow the association."") His point of View is also skewed by his membership on the Commission on Media Theology, Education and the Electronic Media sponsored by the National Council of the Churches of Christ. Attacks are hurled at such diffuse phenomena as broadcasters using hair driers, ""now this"" to introduce news items, pollsters, crossword puzzles, commercials, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Billy Graham, Sesame Street, photography, and USA Today. These attacks come off as vehicles for displaying knowledge of areas not relevant to what the book is supposedly about. Plaudits are reserved for William Howard Taft, Thomas Paine, the critic Northrup Frye, Bertrand Russell, Plato, and the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Only two regularly scheduled TV programs are discussed in any detail--""Ted Koppel's Nightline""--poor communication; MacNeil/Lehrer--""good television."" MacNeil pays ""the price"" for rejecting ""a show-business format"": he is ""confined"" to public television. Repetitive language, pomposity and malapropisms abound, such as ""oracity"" or refering to the ""last gasps of exposition"" at the turn of the century by writers like Faulkner and Hemingway as a ""Nightingale Song."" An incoherent, undisciplined, somewhat hysterical monologue. Better to brush up on McLuhan--or watch some amusing TV.
Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Nutzerbericht - Jacob Thomas Kovacs - GoodreadsIn three words, read this book. Why? 1. Neil Postman's skill in argumentation is a beautiful thing. Whether or not you agree with him, you can learn something by paying attention to how he structures ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Nutzerbericht - Justin - GoodreadsAmusing Ourselves to Media's affect on a society is one that is relatively overlooked in its recent entrance into many soceity's across the globe. Politics is an area that has dramatically changed the ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Nutzerbericht - Benjamin Spalink - GoodreadsBesides being almost as entertaining as watching TV, Postman's book is insightful and profound. Reading it almost makes we want to live in 1857, throw away my TV and my computer, and try to recover ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Nutzerbericht - Oni - GoodreadsIn one word. Damned good. This is what I called a prophetic writing. This book is a lamentation of a dying culture, the typographic culture, now being replace by audiovisual culture. The decline has ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Nutzerbericht - Brandon - GoodreadsThe subtitle to this book, while lacking the title's shock value, is probably a little more relevant: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Postman's book, published in 1985, details the way ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Nutzerbericht - s.penkevich - Goodreads'What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.' The modern era is an age of ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Nutzerbericht - Brianna - GoodreadsAre you ready for this book? It's a blow below the belt, to say the least. You will feel convicted or else continue to ignore the blatant truths within this book. Neil Postman historically and ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Nutzerbericht - Erik Lee - GoodreadsA cultural prophet who unfortunately did not see the his predictions come to pass, Neil Postman addresses the dangers of the media for the future generation. The highlight of the book perhaps is his ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Nutzerbericht - Jenny Stanfield - GoodreadsAmusing Ourselves to Death can arguably be divided into three major parts which are quite different than Postman's own division, which is comprised of two. The first section is comprised of chapters ... Vollständige Rezension lesen
