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

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 302.23
EAN: 9780143036531
ISBN: 014303653X
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: December 27, 2005
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Sales Rank: 2558
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)

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Product Description:
Originally published in 1985, Neil Postman’s groundbreaking polemic about the corrosive effects of television on our politics and public discourse has been hailed as a twenty-first-century book published in the twentieth century. Now, with television joined by more sophisticated electronic media—from the Internet to cell phones to DVDs—it has taken on even greater significance. Amusing Ourselves to Death is a prophetic look at what happens when politics, journalism, education, and even religion become subject to the demands of entertainment. It is also a blueprint for regaining controlof our media, so that they can serve our highest goals.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Brilliant
Nutshell review - I always thought that television was the thief of time but according to Neil Postman it is actually much worse. The success of television as a medium has changed the way in which we are able (and willing) to absorb any information and that is in the format of sound-bites and the 15 second commercial designed to entertain rather than inform and educate. But, asks Postman, how can serious subjects such as religion, politics or education be reduced to passive, one-way entertainment nuggets without destroying much of its essential content? Obviously it cannot and hence we are left largely with irrelevant entertainment and, much worse, a reduced ability to even think about the problem. A Brave New world indeed ...

Rating:

- It's The Today Show-- Starring George Orwell and Aldous Huxley
I will be brief about this. Neil Postman's book AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH is simply outstanding. As a detailed intellectual analysis, it shows just one reason for the non-book reading, Fox news-watching, anti-intellectual climate that currently pervades the United States in 2008.

The causes are many, but have a common thread--television--a medium which has insinuated itself into the mindlessness of popular culture--so much so that any ignorant, but photo-friendly fool or front-man (one old, or younger) along with his right-wing, neo-con, neo-liberal cohorts and advisors can TWICE ascend to the highest levels of political power in the U.S.

Can anyone read this book and not partially understand the devolution of critical reasoning that has produced such a total debacle of political and governmental competence--all of which were based on carefully crafted lies and smooth media presentations??? ... Read More

Rating:

- A Good Deal!!
This is exactly what I wanted and in perfect condidtion as well, which is an added bonus. Thanks!

Rating:

- Disinformation Means Misleading Information--Misplaced, Irrelevant, Fragmented or Superficial
"In watching American television, one is reminded of George Bernard Shaw's remark on his first seeing the glittering neon signs of Broadway and 42nd Street at night. It must be beautiful, he said, if you cannot read." John Ackermann

Neil Postman in his book,'Amusing Ourselves To Death', looks at the impact of television culture on the way we live our lives, understand our present and future and how we gather our information. We need to understand the effects of living in a television society. As he says "We are in danger of creating a trivial culture that will spawn a race of people who adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think." Once we are a television society, we have lost control. We can attempt to control television's influence when we understand the dangers. Neil Postman suggests that Americans ask 'what we are laughing about and why we have stopped thinking.' We have all heard the phrase, ... Read More

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