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A review by paperportals
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Just finished this today. This book was first published in 1985, and my goodness, so eye-opening and fascinating.
I remember jaw-dropping moments, LOL commentary that's so accurate it's scary, and an absolutely new way of looking life as we know it, but from a very specific timeframe. (I mean, he's only talking about television. The advent of the internet and the proliferation of social media are absolutely nowhere to be found.)
You know how people say, "you never know you're part of a culture until you step out of it"? This book was like a Portkey, it momentarily took me out of a specific culture (which is show business) I swim in everyday. Also, the author has a very clear stance on the matter, but he's scathingly funny. I really thought there was a portion where it was less academic presentation of research and more LOL roast.
For a book that wants to go against show business, it was highly entertaining.
But I'm curious if this book received flack for sounding pundit-y at times! (Not without good reason, imho. Also wondering if this author wrote any other books now.)
I remember jaw-dropping moments, LOL commentary that's so accurate it's scary, and an absolutely new way of looking life as we know it, but from a very specific timeframe. (I mean, he's only talking about television. The advent of the internet and the proliferation of social media are absolutely nowhere to be found.)
You know how people say, "you never know you're part of a culture until you step out of it"? This book was like a Portkey, it momentarily took me out of a specific culture (which is show business) I swim in everyday. Also, the author has a very clear stance on the matter, but he's scathingly funny. I really thought there was a portion where it was less academic presentation of research and more LOL roast.
For a book that wants to go against show business, it was highly entertaining.
But I'm curious if this book received flack for sounding pundit-y at times! (Not without good reason, imho. Also wondering if this author wrote any other books now.)