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A review by neighbs
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
5.0
I heard about this book for the first time years ago and I knew it would be right up my street. The effects of technology and entertainment on humanity is basically what’s filling up my brain dawn till dusk and I’m always always in the mood to read about it.
So, I held off reading this until I had read both 1984 and Brave New World because I was aware he references them both. The first thing I’ll say is I really didn’t need to do that. If you’re interested in reading this, Postman explains the relevant comparison between 1984 and BNW perfectly well (and without spoiling the plot of either).
The book itself is really quite short, it reads like a long essay. Although Postman is writing in the 1980s about television, blissfully unaware of TikTok or iPad kids, the argument he makes is .. like… scarily prescient. Even in the intro you’re like “oh fuck”.
There’s a great chapter near the beginning on the state of public discourse and culture in America pre and post the invention of the new-fangled tech of the telegraph and the photograph. This was genuinely fascinating, and shows just how huge a paradigm shift in human experience can come with new technologies.
I really liked how clear and concise his language was. He’s very good at explaining what he means. The only points of confusion were his 80s America cultural references - although the Reagan and Sesame Street references still work pretty good.
I seriously wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone. It’s very hard (impossible?) to make sense of our 21st century screen world, and Postman goes some way to articulating eg how a decontextualised mess of information being beamed into our heads on a daily basis has got us here. And he does it from the past!
Also it’s teeny tiny short book! It won’t take you long! And then I’ll be most pleased and excited to be able to discuss it with a friend!
So, I held off reading this until I had read both 1984 and Brave New World because I was aware he references them both. The first thing I’ll say is I really didn’t need to do that. If you’re interested in reading this, Postman explains the relevant comparison between 1984 and BNW perfectly well (and without spoiling the plot of either).
The book itself is really quite short, it reads like a long essay. Although Postman is writing in the 1980s about television, blissfully unaware of TikTok or iPad kids, the argument he makes is .. like… scarily prescient. Even in the intro you’re like “oh fuck”.
There’s a great chapter near the beginning on the state of public discourse and culture in America pre and post the invention of the new-fangled tech of the telegraph and the photograph. This was genuinely fascinating, and shows just how huge a paradigm shift in human experience can come with new technologies.
I really liked how clear and concise his language was. He’s very good at explaining what he means. The only points of confusion were his 80s America cultural references - although the Reagan and Sesame Street references still work pretty good.
I seriously wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone. It’s very hard (impossible?) to make sense of our 21st century screen world, and Postman goes some way to articulating eg how a decontextualised mess of information being beamed into our heads on a daily basis has got us here. And he does it from the past!
Also it’s teeny tiny short book! It won’t take you long! And then I’ll be most pleased and excited to be able to discuss it with a friend!