Download Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Audiobook

" This is the best book on television's impact on Western society ever. It should be a "must read" for every teacher at any level, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to make students read it during high school as well. "

" A bit dated at this point but interesting theory. Not sure how much the critique of TV's (or computers) role in ensuring that entertainment permanently displaces print / discourse holds up in an age when TV viewership is declining and media like Twitter, blogs, etc. are ascendant. "

" A real eye-opener about the change in how we see and interpret our world since visual information exchange has begun to supercede written information. "

" A work of social criticism about our show business culture, Amusing Ourselves to Death powerfully shows how technology and the media have radically changed social discourse such that serious argumentation is no longer considered to be desirable. Postman points out a number of interesting consequences, mostly unattractive and damaging, of this change. The book has its faults: it's hard to make sense of some of Postman's arguments, and the way he uses the word "epistemology" is very strange to the ears of an epistemologist (I suppose that Postman is trying to use the term in ways that sociologists use it, not that I pretend to understand what that is). Still, it is very successful in highlighting some negative features of contemporary society that one might never think about on one's own. "

" Pretty heady, but I really liked it. "

" great book.. a very disturbing, yet awakening, analysis of the damage wrought by electronic media. postman makes the subject matter highly readable. "

" Read this book. You won't regret it. "

" Loved this book. Written in the 80s but such a prophetic indictment of the culture we live in. "

" I was literally scared to watch television for a good while after reading this book. "

" The title says it all. "

" Very prescient. Very scary. I've been saying all along that we live in a dystopian society in this country, and Postman's book gives me more proof. Fantastic read. "

" The perils of reducing our culture to pure entertainment. "

" This type of reading is usually incredibly dry to me. Neil Postman does a great job of keeping those of us who mainly love fiction interested in what are, I consider, profound ideas about the society in which we live. It's not only good; it's important. "

" Everyone should be required to read this book multiple times. Neil Postman was a genius. He understood how the human mind works. "

" This should be taught in every high school in America. "

" This was used as a textbook for a class. It was good and though it was written in the mid-eighties it is more relevant today. "

" I knocked off a star because my loyalty to television dictates I must, but this is one thought-provoking book. "

" "For America is engaged in the world's most ambitious experiment to accommodate itself to the technological distractions made pos-sible by the electric plug." What, if anything, has changed since Postman first penned these words? "

" Well-thought, well-presented, and serious discourse on the effect TV and media has on our collective intellect and communications. Read it! "

" I was meh at the time I read it in the 80s and would probably be more meh now. "

" If you are a Communication major, you NEED to read this book it is like the Bible of Communications, literately. "

" while I liked it, I thought it was on point, I have to believe we,as a people, are able to see through the superficiality described in this book. But there are a few eye openers. worth the time to read "

" Originally had to read this for a class in college. It's fantastic! "

" Amazing book but not that easy to read. It is in an essay format and when i read it as a junior in high school it was torture. But, it's message is relevant and i find myself referencing it in thoughts enough that i have never forgotten what i learned. "

" "Media as epistemology" - The medium through which we receive our news dictates what news we receive, and how we think about / "know" it. What's newsworthy on a TV show is different from what's newsworthy in print. Very interesting. "