Skriven 1985 med fokus på televisionens roll som kommunationsmedium i USA och det konstanta, (många gånger) irrelevanta informationsflödet som den utstrålar.

Awesome reading! Sticks a spoon in your brain and stirs it awake.

Everyone should read it. Even though written before the rise of the Internet, the points made ring true to this day.

Relevant

Oldies but goodies

Snoozefest

I attempted to read this book, but it was painfully boring. I had to stop after chapter 3 and trash it! This is more of a "college course" book, which I tend to hate. It's confusing and the author is just rambling about nothing.

A must read

every parent should read this book. As timely today as when originally written. And great value on eBay.

Exposing how most people waste a large part of their lives

Excellent documentation of affliction that has consumed and wasted more time of peoples lives than any other invention in human history.

Great read well worth my time

Well worth my time . Great read

This is a must-read for the post-modern lay thinker.

Neil Postman explains a lot about how and why culture and public discourse have been transformed in America as a result of widespread TV viewership. The author presents interesting perspectives on the benefits and drawbacks of every major type of media (oral, typographical, visual, etc.) with respect to how they shaped the way that people would think and communicate with each other in their historical contexts. It's an older publication so some of the references to TV shows and current events are dated but, having just finished reading it, I find the concepts to be relevant and applicable to today's world, even after the internet and social media have since risen to the forefront. Come to the text prepared to ponder as it is interesting and academic. I highly recommend it; especially for people who want to understand why most of public discourse is so shallow these days.

Amazing insightful read!

Very informative and relevant information to todays population. Well worth your money and your time!

A prescient analysis of our media culture

An important early look at our media-saturated culture. A classic study of an important topic, even more important and relevant in the mobile, digital age.

awful

awful

Interesting

This is an interesting read about how TV effects out minds. However, I feel it is a little outdated due to the fact that the internet is the new craze. But the content is interesting and still applies in many aspects.

Amazing!

Great book! LOOKED NEW

A classic examination of the news entertainment industry

Why does the Weather Channel mimic the other early morning shows rather than devoting its air time to scientific inquiry and instruction? Will the Weather Channel ever have any females on their "Expert Desks?" Why do all the news channels cover the same set of stories in similar ways simultaneously? Why is it that clueless reporters interview other clueless reporters when nobody has any new information? Could it be that the networks synchronize their commercial breaks? A classic view of the broadcast industry of its time, this visionary book explains to today's audience just what it is we have become accustomed to. It reminds one of the 70's radio show "Blowing the Whistle on Broadcasting," where listeners were reminded weekly by Rose K. Goldsen "what our children see in the world depends on what we show them." These days, it appears the only thing we have for our kids on all media is video games. Happy gaming, everyone!

A love hate relationship with this book

This book is a really good read if you have already come to the conclusion that TV (and a number of other electronic entertainment forms) have changed our expectations of the way information should be packaged for us - and for the worse. If you have not, however, I feel that it may not win you over simply because it labours a number of points, like news information, at the expense of remaining excited about the build of the argument getting to the really important point to make, and that is our addiction to stimulation.

A "must-read" for all Christian ministers!

Though not written from a specifically Christian perspective (though a number of chapters discuss aspects of the modern church), this book thoroughly debunks the popular mantra: "Our message does not change: our way of communicating it must change!". Methodology greatly influences the message! Not just "must-read" for all ministers - but for all modern Western Christians!

Hyper Stimulated

Postman does an excellent job of pointing out our increasing need for visual stimulation whether via television, video or gaming on-line or at home. Concerns about our decreasing ability to use higher level thinking skills when our visual appetite is only satisfied with appealing colors and movement. This book is a well-documented discourse of the moral decay of our country and our need to be constantly entertained. I believe that the rise in the number of children diagnosed with autism, hyperactivity and/or attention deficits (disorders having to do with the ability to concentrate) are connected to the use of NON-STOP visual stimulation of infants. Consider the many mothers who dump their few-weeks'-old infants or toddlers in less-than-ideal daycare situations. Many babies are plopped in an infant seat in front of a television with a supposedly "educational" video running and have very little adult-child interactions throughout their day. The infant is thereby trained to interact with the TV, thus to NEED excitement and entertainment in order to "learn." Toddlers and preschoolers are parked in front of computer games to supposedly increase their IQ's and to prep for school--again with visual stimulation and movement. Gone are the quiet and pleasant times for little ones snuggling on Mother's lap to read stories--stories that year-by-year have more complex plot lines. At very few stops along the way to attending school are children encouraged to sit quietly and contemplate their world in peace or beauty--everything is about movement and color and noise and action. Sadly when they land in first grade they are expected to sit quietly, to contemplate the lines of forming letters and numbers, and to keep silent. Up to this point they've been trained, nay educated, to the world by noise and graphics. Constantly having their visual and auditory senses barraged with stimulating pictures and sounds. Children are victims of our technology. Parents lack common-sense and doubt their own abilities, rely too much on magazine "experts" with strange ideas about child-rearing. Dragging kids to lessons and sports and clubs is providing a childhood rather than one-on-one interactions (reading, playing a board game, washing & drying dishes while quizzing on math facts). Car-makers now design vehicles to accommodate "living" on the road: drop-down video monitors for movies in the back-seat to keep children "entertained." "Back in my day" board games and toys (usually requiring a sibling or parent to complete the deal!) were the expected gifts under the Christmas tree or at birthday parties. Summer mornings were spent doing chores, weeding or hoeing the garden; hot afternoons were spent in the shade with books, dolls or toy cars or trucks. Bike riding was the preferred mode of transportation to the swimming hole or to our ball games (with usually NO adults in attendance). Evenings were spent in the backyard playing hide-n-seek games with the neighborhood kids. Our entertainment was mostly self-generated and involved interaction with other living people. Our lack of common-sense and wisdom concerning family life and child-rearing is directly related to our reluctance to read and understand the best-selling book of all time: The Bible. Need a wholesome plan for marriage, child-rearing, home life, business, education, the future? You'll find it all in God's word. Postmand scratches the surface; God covers it all!

Prophetic

Mr. Postman's book Amusing Ourselves to Death was a prophetic look at the way the changes in media affects an entire civilization. His contention is simple enough: as the vehicle for information changes from typography (the written word) to things like television and the internet, it will fulfill what Aldous Huxley feared in his book the Brave New World, that namely information will be trivialized to the point that a civilization will destroy itself through lethargy. He points out that television today is simply entertainment. The news is like a talk show, with music, and visual effects designed to increase ratings as much as possible. Mr. Postman is not anti-television, instead he zeros in on news shows, and other "serious" type talk shows, pointing out that these shows cannot pass for news and that no topic can be seriously discussed in 30 seconds to 1 minute. It's interesting to see him compare our media/tv culture with the reading/book type culture of the 1800's. I can't recommend this book highly enough.