Amusing Ourselves to Death

Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

By: Neil Postman

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

In this eloquent and persuasive book, Neil Postman examines the deep and broad effects of television culture on the manner in which we conduct our public affairs, and how "entertainment values" have corrupted the very way we think.

As politics, news, religion, education, and commerce are given less and less expression in the form of the printed word, they are rapidly being reshaped to suit the requirements of television. And because television is a visual medium, whose images are most pleasurably apprehended when they are fast-moving and dynamic, discourse on television has little tolerance for argument, hypothesis, or explanation. Postman argues that public discourse, the advancing of arguments in logical order for the public good, once a hallmark of American culture, is being converted from exposition and explanation to entertainment.

©1985 Neil Postman (P)1994 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"A brilliant, powerful and important book.... This is a brutal indictment Postman has laid down and, so far as I can see, an irrefutable one." ( Washington Post Book World)

"[Postman] starts where Marshall McLuhan left off, constructing his arguments with the resources of a scholar and the wit of a raconteur." ( Christian Science Monitor)

"A sustained, withering and thought-provoking attack on television and what it is doing to us.... Postman goes further than other critics in demonstrating that television represents a hostile attack on literate culture." ( Publishers Weekly)

This continues to gain relevance, listen up!

An amazing read! This book just becomes more and more prescient as time passes and technology advances shaping our culture and society. Minor ding on the performance for reading it too fast. I had to slow it down to 0.9 speed, and then I settled into the reader’s cadence much better.

why isnt this required reading just to let people

incredible and thought provoking. is able to be correlated to the internet now a days

We are all screwed.

With Donald Trumps ascension to the highest office in the land, the prophecy has been fulfilled.

Then As It Is Now

Great performance of a text as relevant and prophetic as Huxley's Brave New World ever was.

This guy is a true oracle...

Amazing how spot on this analysis is of TV & culture and how many completely accurate his predictions were in 1984 about what the future culture would look like. Must read if you are at all interested in understanding media bias and decline of the culture particularly in the US.

More than just homework...

Even though this book may have been written in 1984 it still, terrifyingly, applies to today's world as well. The narrator was enjoyable to listen to. The words are more easily absorbed when read out loud to me through audible and I read along. I would have read this for pleasure, even if it wasn't assigned to my in my English class. I can see the many similarities the addiction of television has which is just like technology and the internet in our cultural society today.

wow

loved this book it is a must read and gives much needed context to political discourse and the miss information spread so persuasively.

A significant book, worth repeated listenings

Would you consider the audio edition of Amusing Ourselves to Death to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print version of this book, but was surprised to find that I was well able to follow and absorb it in audio despite its intellectual focus.

What other book might you compare Amusing Ourselves to Death to and why?

This is one of a the key books on media and society that is truly accessible to non-academics, comparable to Edward Jay Epstein's "News from Nowhere," Joshua Meyrowitz's "No Sense of Place" and James Carey's "Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society."

Which character – as performed by Jeff Riggenbach – was your favorite?

I was convinced that Jeff Riggenback was the author, so well did he read, with emphasis in all the right places.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It took me awhile to absorb this book, which I listened to in the car in bursts, as I drove to work. I think I started it on vaction. It bears putting down at time to think about the ideas, which are significant and sometimes complex. But it is truly accessible, so I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the increasingly important interactions between media and society. Indeed, every responsible citizen should be aware of these things, which are still valid and relevant although they were written decades ago.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended.

If only he could see the internet

This book offers a fascinating look into our use of, and submission to modern technologies. It is more relevant today, than it was when it was written in the 1980s.

Great read!

Great read. It really reframed my understanding of media over the last 2 centuries. Woot