A review by michaelwenig
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman

3.0

This book was bonkers. It was a very interesting read (originally written in 1985) and gave kind of an eerie diagnosis of the effects of television on American culture up to that point. It was eerie because the author, as best I can tell made a good argument about television dominating the content of what we talk about as a culture and how it created a framework for how we think, but then called the computer a “vastly overrated technology.” I think Neil Postman would probably crap his pants if he could see social media in 2022.

All in all, this book gave me some really interesting points to think about, chiefly about the ways I consume technology and social media and how it influences the way I am formed and how I interact with the world around me.