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

Amusing Ourselves to Death

Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

1985 • 208 pages

Ratings50

Average rating4.1

15
nithou
NithouSupporter

The proposition of the book, to study the impact of television on the population, the public discourse, the general way of expressing oneself, ... is really interesting. I must admit I never envisioned technology's impacts like this and it made me think quite a lot.

Unfortunately I think the book falls a bit short by half of it and start to repeat itself in a loop without bringing anything new to its first proposal. I would also have liked to have the author advice on the propagation of computers, smartphones and Internet, because as the book is quite old already, it misses the evolution of computers and them not just being "data treatment machines".

Still a great book to realize the impact television had on our politics, our daily life, the way we teach and envision the world. Gave me a lot to think about.

"Television has achieved the status of “meta-medium”—an instrument that directs not only our knowledge of the world, but our knowledge of ways of knowing as well."
April 9, 2024Report this review