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1.04k reviews for:
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Neil Postman
4.03 AVERAGE
1.04k reviews for:
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Neil Postman
4.03 AVERAGE
reflective
medium-paced
I can only imagine what Neil would think if he saw Trump as president. He would die again.
medium-paced
Just keeps getting more true, with TV, social media, etc, and now AI slop. Short book, but could be shorter, as he really only has one point and hammers it home over and over again (though that could just be my TV/Internet attention span!).
Getting this out of the way, Postman is not some angry Luddite criticising TV just because it isn't a book; on the contrary he is completely comfortable when TV is used solely for fictional dramas and comedies that have no bearing on real life. The argument he has here is that with television and its accompanying technologies it is no longer possible to communicate important news, make well thought out political arguments or educate without making sure it is entertaining and done in short enough time frames. This book was written in 1985. He has no clue how bad it's gotten.
This is an insanely well thought out book that should be read by anyone interested in how people consume media, and how today's world has been corrupted by the effects of electronic media which in my opinion is reaching its critical point in today's time. Postman was prophetic, Aldous Huxley even more so.
This is an insanely well thought out book that should be read by anyone interested in how people consume media, and how today's world has been corrupted by the effects of electronic media which in my opinion is reaching its critical point in today's time. Postman was prophetic, Aldous Huxley even more so.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Shocking and very interesting argument
I don’t remember how I added this book to my reading list but I am so glad I did. It makes me think and ponder about the current status of our society, driven by snack-sizes bites of information (like 15 seconds videos on TikTok). I wonder what Mr. Postman would had said about this.
I don’t remember how I added this book to my reading list but I am so glad I did. It makes me think and ponder about the current status of our society, driven by snack-sizes bites of information (like 15 seconds videos on TikTok). I wonder what Mr. Postman would had said about this.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
there’s some useful stuff in here but also reading this in 2025 it’s like … okay. yeah. sure. wonder what he thinks about tiktok.
**
one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. I just wish it was 3x longer with deeper context and a lot more analysis. I see Postman's theory as an essential part of understanding how american society (and to an extent western society as a whole) got to where it is today, and it's baffling that it isn't treated as such.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/02/amusing-ourselves-to-death-neil-postman-trump-orwell-huxley
https://www.salon.com/2015/01/04/meet_the_man_who_predicted_fox_news_the_internet_stephen_colbert_and_reality_tv/
one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. I just wish it was 3x longer with deeper context and a lot more analysis. I see Postman's theory as an essential part of understanding how american society (and to an extent western society as a whole) got to where it is today, and it's baffling that it isn't treated as such.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/02/amusing-ourselves-to-death-neil-postman-trump-orwell-huxley
https://www.salon.com/2015/01/04/meet_the_man_who_predicted_fox_news_the_internet_stephen_colbert_and_reality_tv/