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Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Paperback – December 27, 2005

by Neil Postman (Author), Andrew Postman (Introduction)

499 customer reviews

in TV & Video Engineering

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What happens when media and politics become forms of entertainment? As our world begins to look more and more like Orwell's 1984, Neil's Postman's essential guide to the modern media is more relevant than ever.

"It's unlikely that Trump has ever read Amusing Ourselves to Death, but his ascent would not have surprised Postman.” -CNN

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 control of our media, so that they can serve our highest goals.

“A brilliant, powerful, and important book. This is an indictment that Postman has laid down and, so far as I can see, an irrefutable one.” –Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World

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“I can’t think of a more prophetic, more thoughtful, more necessary – and yes, more entertaining – book about media culture.” –Victor Navasky, National Book Award-winning author of The Art of Controversy

“All I can say about Neil Postman’s brilliant Amusing Ourselves to Death is: Guilty As Charged.” –Matt Groening, Creator of The Simpsons

“As a fervent evangelist of the age of Hollywood, I publicly opposed Neil Postman’s dark picture of our media-saturated future. But time has proved Postman right. He accurately foresaw that the young would inherit a frantically all-consuming media culture of glitz, gossip, and greed.” –Camille Paglia

“A brilliant, powerful, and important book. This is an indictment that Postman has laid down and, so far as I can see, an irrefutable one.” –Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World

About the Author

Neil Postman (1931–2003) was chairman of the Department of Communication Arts at New York University and founder of its Media Ecology program. He wrote more than twenty books.

Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books; Anniversary edition (December 27, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 014303653X
ISBN-13: 978-0143036531
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 7.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 499 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Telecommunications & Sensors > Television & Video
- #1 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Television > History & Criticism
- #2 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Elections & Political Process > Media & Internet

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Relevant, Compelling, Well-Argued, Well-Written

August 25, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

"Amusing Ourselves to Death" is an amazingly written and well-argued book. As Postman notes: In the Victorian Era (mid-late 1800s), novelist Charles Dickens had as much fame as The Beatles in 1960, Michael Jackson in 1980, or Brad Pitt in 2014. The farm boy in the late 1700s carried a pamphlet of Thomas Paine's writings in his back pocket. Today, school-children carry iphones with pictures of Eminem (boy) or Taylor Swift (girl). In the mid-1800s, Abraham Lincoln and Stephan A. Douglas debated in public FOR HOURS on the dire issues of their time. Today, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have bite-sized debates where one side speaks for 1 minute and the other side gets a 30-second rebuttal.
.
Clearly, the people then were different from the people now in terms of mainstream intelligence. The reason, Postman argues, is that the people in Dickens' era were children of "The Age of Typography," and the people today (us) are the children of "The Age of Show Business," or "The Age of Television." Reading was life to people in the older days; watching television is life to us now. And television, however entertaining, cannot be anything but sheer junk because it works through images, sensationalism, and emotional gratification. Writing, on the other hand, requires patience, detachment, memory, and reason. The result is that we are dumber than our ancestors. Incredulous? Pick up the book and let Postman prove it to you.
.
This book was written in 1985, but don't be fooled; it still wields enormous relevance today -- The chapter titled, "Peek-a-Boo-World" as well as the "Information-to-action-ratio" theory outlined in it are particularly pertinent regarding the modern-day use of the internet, especially with portable laptops, tablets, and cellphones. With those gadgets, we have become, in short, a nation buried in triviality, as Postman predicted. Furthermore, television viewership today has not decreased with the rise of the internet, iphones, and such. On the contrary, studies show that we still watch as much television as before, despite the alarmingly rising rate of electronic use. In this book, Postman focuses on politics, religion, education, and the news. These, he says, are serious topics that are downgraded to mere amusement because television, by design, works by making everything amusing. In effect, we come to expect everything in life to be entertaining when, in actuality, some things must be endured. Again, I urge you to read this book carefully. I've read it four times. It's ideas have allowed me to wean myself away from television and on to typography. Let it have the same effect on you.

102 people found this helpful

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B. Bryant

Superb Title and book

January 10, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A truer Title has never been written. Published in 1985, Mr. Postman predicted with depressing accuracy the declining intellectual arc of the United States. While it leans towards pedantry on occasion (I do too often), he exposes the dangers in our insatiable demand for gratification, the faster the better. He could have written this book tomorrow, and now I'm even more depressed.

15 people found this helpful

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November 27, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

BREAKING NEWS

1. The chief purpose of mass media news is not to inform, but to sell entertainment. It is actually "News Entertainment."

2. To their own benefit, the highest goal of the majority of "news" providers is to convince you to be a faithful member of their audience.

3. Mass media communicates in images and sound bites. Words, substance, and facts are neither conducive to their purpose nor desirable.

4. The bulk of what passes for "the news" is neither rooted in reality nor relevant to our daily lives.

5. Such "news" providers create their biased views of reality and attempt to convince their audience members to buy into it.

6. Many folks have long ago stopped thinking critically about what is presented as "truth in the media." Instead, they have latched on to a feel-good moral position that negates their personal responsibility to legitimately research history, context, facts, and moral/political/social principles.

Are we willing to do our own homework, or will we remain content to passively receive what is fed to us by commercial "news" providers? Are we naive enough to rely on "truth in the media"?

I pray not!

—Reflections on the book "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman

34 people found this helpful

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Appealing yet obvious

January 6, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The title of this book is appealing, especially for the dissidents or mavericks who would be contended to find views in this book that rebel against the contemporary societal norms. The coverage this book got after 2016 US primaries has further fueled the interest of those who are looking for gratification to find arguments that confirm to their views of the contemporary world. Under the influence of a biased yearning to find a way out of the 2016 US political landscape, this book is a panacea; it categorically puts the blame for this presumed gaffe on the evolution of show business in the coeval society. If you are one of these readers, go ahead, read this book, find your momentary satisfaction. Once you do that, you may find yourself reverting back to television to find more views that confirm to your opinion. If that happens, you should realize that you are perhaps a victim of the very change that the author warned you against.
Beyond the momentarily fulfillment, this book is nothing more than a summary of concepts expressed better in books this very text refers to. This book no doubt deserves a high rating for the brevity of the message the author puts forward and the number of texts that the author references to further research on this topic. Otherwise, everything that this book talks about is obvious, especially to anyone who has objectively observed the ascent of media in our everyday life. This book at best presents quips and quotes to summarize the thoughts that hitherto might have simmered in a mind such as ‘How television staged the world becomes the model for how the world is to be staged,’ or ‘Television is our culture’s principle mode of knowing itself,’ but those that were not succinctly expressed. All that this book does is present an aha moment, something on the lines of ‘I knew it!’ Otherwise, any serious explorer of this topic should start with 1984 by George Orwell or Brave New World by Aldous Huxley instead of picking up this text.
Finally, this book builds its arguments on examples with a little reference to research. It presents opinions derived from observation; observation of elections, religion, advertisement, schools and news. While a large portion of population may actually be affected by these examples, this book fails to talk about the valuable side of mass media. At best it presents half the picture, the picture that’s dark. Not to say that it’s wrong, a reader should exert caution and exhibit judgement in jumping to conclusions.

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Given as a gift, person liked it.

Published 9 days ago

Cabinart -. Jana Botkin

Astonishingly relevant

Excellent explanation of how communication has changed through the years, and what is happening to our abilities to communicate.Read more

Published 16 days ago

Brittany

Five Stars

Really interesting read and super relevant today with our technology.

Published 17 days ago

Carolina

Five Stars

Amazing book. Read it. Now.

Published 18 days ago

"What is happening here is that television is altering the ...

"What is happening here is that television is altering the meaning of "being informed" by creating a species of information that might properly be called...Read more

Published 1 month ago

Susan H.

A good read for parents and thoughtful humans

Postman is a sear. A good read for parents and thoughtful humans. Really interesting points.

Published 1 month ago

Dolores M. Gelly

Too complex.

Published 1 month ago

Jeff Talarico

Media Manipulation at its finest.

What can we do to bring back the Christian Nation we once were? This book describes to the reader just how the media manipulates our thoughts and directs us to do what they want...Read more

Published 1 month ago

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Five Stars

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