Amusing Ourselves to Death

Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Neil Postman

Recommended By

Book Reviews

One of the books Keith Rabois recommends for entrepreneurs.

Book Synopsis

"Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman is a thought-provoking examination of how entertainment and media culture have profoundly shaped our society.

Postman argues that the age of television has transformed public discourse and undermined our ability to engage in serious, meaningful conversations. He contends that the rapid rise of visual media has replaced the written word as the primary mode of communication, leading to a society obsessed with entertainment rather than thoughtful reflection.

Through insightful analysis and examples, Postman explores various aspects of this phenomenon. He examines the influence of advertising on our culture, explaining how messages are manipulated to appeal to emotions rather than reason. He also investigates the impact of news as entertainment, suggesting that our obsession with sensationalism has hampered our ability to comprehend complex issues.

Furthermore, Postman highlights the dangers of "infotainment" and the ways in which television has transformed education. He questions the effectiveness of teaching through visual media, arguing that it promotes shallow learning and discourages critical thinking.

In conclusion, "Amusing Ourselves to Death" offers a compelling critique of our media-saturated society. Postman calls for a renewed focus on the written word and active participation in public discourse as a means to foster a more thoughtful and engaged society.

Explore More Books

See All
Devil's Bargain
Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It
The Story of Civilization: The Age of Faith
The New Atlantis
Charged
Dark Towers
Life in the English Country House
Tribal Leadership
Grass Productivity
Winners Take All
The New Economics
Deep Medicine
Play Anything
Planetary
The Persian Expedition
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Thinking In Systems
Order Without Design
Kill Decision
In Patagonia
The Man Who Fed The World
Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero
Thank God for Bitcoin
The Varieties of Religious Experience
Being Wrong
Bringing Down The House
Hyperion
Screw Business As Usual
The Mythical Man-Month
24/6
The Spiritual Brain
The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition
The Role of the Individual in History
The Complete Guide to Sales Force Incentive Compensation
Unelected Power
The (Mis)Behavior of Markets
Be the Person You Want to Find
Werner Herzog - A Guide for the Perplexed
Cryptonomicon
The Bet
Everything is Bullshit
Absolute Tao
Talent
The Fortunes of Africa
The Doors of Perception
Mao
A Time for New Dreams
Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart
The Lifecycle of Software Objects
The Story of Civilization: The Reformation
Reality Is Not What It Seems
The Coaching Habit
The Terminal List
A Good Man
V for Vendetta
The Undoing Project
Tools of Titans
Enlightenment Now
An American Marriage
At Home in the Universe
Breath
Foundations
The Three Marriages
Determined
The Billionaire Shell Game
The Power of Habit
A Soldier of the Great War
The Woman I Wanted to Be
The Female Brain
Winning The Loser's Game
American Crusade
The One Sentence Persuasion Course
Rational Decisions
Probability, Random Variables and Stochastic Processes
The End of History and the Last Man
The Feynman Lectures on Physics
In Pursuit of Happiness and Good Government
Nudge
Play Bigger
Alice in Wonderland
The $12 Million Stuffed Shark
Slaughterhouse-Five
State of Fear
A Mind At Play
The Power of Relentless
Anthropic Bias
On Trails
Thank You For Smoking
The Road to Character
To Rule the Waves
Superintelligence
Secrets of Power Negotiating
The Value Investors
Karl Marx's Theory of History
Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
Elon Musk
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Dip
Gulag Archipelago
Talking To Humans