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thisisjules's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
3.25
maya_louise's review against another edition
3.0
A few solid, impactful arguments, but it should have stayed an article. Dobelli stretches out his points by writing long paragraphs listing examples, and using strange (sometimes nonsensical) analogies. However, I appreciate that it gave me a different perspective on news media, and I have been reexamining my reading habits because of this book.
ghosthardware98's review against another edition
4.0
When a book comes along with a title like 'Stop Reading the News' I know I have to read it. It seemingly promotes ignorance but the arguments within are practical and logical, the strongest one being that almost no news has actual impact on your day to day life. I imagine most people on the planet would acknowledge this fact, but still feel like they need to keep informed. Luckily there's arguments against that and a host of similar worries.
Being that the chapters were all basically the same length, some topics that could have been expanded on weren't. A few were rehashed with the wording a bit changed and even the short chapters didn't make them feel any less repetitive. There was a chapter about how news can be used as a propaganda tool for terrorists and while I thought it had merit, it felt extreme in contrast to the rest of the book to the point that I questioned even including it here.
I think the book is between 3 and 4 stars, but considering it made me seriously consider my news consumption I decided to be fair to the author as he accomplished his goal. So, 4 stars it is.
Being that the chapters were all basically the same length, some topics that could have been expanded on weren't. A few were rehashed with the wording a bit changed and even the short chapters didn't make them feel any less repetitive. There was a chapter about how news can be used as a propaganda tool for terrorists and while I thought it had merit, it felt extreme in contrast to the rest of the book to the point that I questioned even including it here.
I think the book is between 3 and 4 stars, but considering it made me seriously consider my news consumption I decided to be fair to the author as he accomplished his goal. So, 4 stars it is.
jankatar's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
2.75
As someone who doesn't really read the news anyway, I wasn't the envisioned audience for this book. It did help me articulate some of the concerns I already had, such as the fact that equal amounts of news are churned out every day even though there are days where nothing really happens, and the fact that the news consists of tiny snippets of information that never really give you the bigger, very complex picture behind why things are happening. I also gained some new arguments against the news that I'd never thought of, e.g. that it's increasingly made to be clickbait-y since the main source of funding is advertising.
Apart from that, this is a very black and white book about a former news-a-holic (in his own words) who found a thing that made his life a bit better and is now annoyingly preachy about it. He acts as if the news is ruining everyone's life in equal measure and is only ever a bad thing, and though some of his arguments are good, some are just utter incel-y bullshit.
This book would be twice as good if it were 50% the length
Apart from that, this is a very black and white book about a former news-a-holic (in his own words) who found a thing that made his life a bit better and is now annoyingly preachy about it. He acts as if the news is ruining everyone's life in equal measure and is only ever a bad thing, and though some of his arguments are good, some are just utter incel-y bullshit.
This book would be twice as good if it were 50% the length