Scan barcode
A review by davehershey
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
4.0
Orwell believed the government would hide the truth, ban books, and in essence dominate people. Huxley believed people would have access to so much information they would not know what truth is and there would be so much entertainment no one would read.
Huxley was right.
Postman's work is an extended analysis of television. It is a bit dated since he writes at the onset of computers. Much of what he said holds true, but it would be interesting to get his take on how smartphones have changed things. On one hand, we are addicted to smartphones and can get entertainment always and anywhere (Huxley's soma). On the other hand, podcasts have made available much learning and there are good podcasts that go quite deep and are popular (History of Rome, Hardcore History, just to name a few). I suspect Postman might say that even here, entertainment taints it. Or, the people who read are the ones who use their smartphones to learn while those who do not read focus only on the memes.
If anyone has any contemporary books that bring Postman (and Ellul, who I am surprised was not referenced) up to date, that would be great. For now, this book is a valuable read.
Huxley was right.
Postman's work is an extended analysis of television. It is a bit dated since he writes at the onset of computers. Much of what he said holds true, but it would be interesting to get his take on how smartphones have changed things. On one hand, we are addicted to smartphones and can get entertainment always and anywhere (Huxley's soma). On the other hand, podcasts have made available much learning and there are good podcasts that go quite deep and are popular (History of Rome, Hardcore History, just to name a few). I suspect Postman might say that even here, entertainment taints it. Or, the people who read are the ones who use their smartphones to learn while those who do not read focus only on the memes.
If anyone has any contemporary books that bring Postman (and Ellul, who I am surprised was not referenced) up to date, that would be great. For now, this book is a valuable read.