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thejdizzler's review against another edition
5.0
I wrote an article about this book
https://deusexvita.medium.com/is-technology-always-a-good-thing-fff1c7a00705
https://deusexvita.medium.com/is-technology-always-a-good-thing-fff1c7a00705
scordatura's review against another edition
5.0
Despite being written in 1992, this book offers a view of the influence of technology on our lives that is as relevant as ever, if not more so in this age of government espionage on all our communications, of corporations greedily soaking up the personal information we happily share on social networking sites, of tech companies believing that their latest smart phone will improve our lives.
To be sure, the author (the cultural critic Neil Postman) is not a Luddite: he does not deny the usefulness of technology, but he warns against placing them central in our lives, in believing in them without any reflection on them. He offers a dissenting voice in the chorus of people worshiping technology. Even better, he remains nuanced and subtle in all of his arguments - a trait that I admire and rarely see in other writings about media and technology.
This could be perhaps why he seems to be all but forgotten in the fields of scholarly research into media and its effects: in my experience, those scholars automatically see media and technology seen an improvement of our lives and an enrichment of our culture. Personally I don’t think this always applies and that there is a lot to discover in more ancient forms of technology and culture, but more importantly Postman offers an excellent view of how our thoughts and opinions are shaped by the technology we use.
Of course, this applied to the introduction of, for instance, the printing press as much as it does to the popularization of the Internet, and of “always being connected” through our smartphones. He presents an excellent reminder to keep thinking and analyzing who we are, how we want to use our technology and if we want to let it influence us or not.
To be sure, the author (the cultural critic Neil Postman) is not a Luddite: he does not deny the usefulness of technology, but he warns against placing them central in our lives, in believing in them without any reflection on them. He offers a dissenting voice in the chorus of people worshiping technology. Even better, he remains nuanced and subtle in all of his arguments - a trait that I admire and rarely see in other writings about media and technology.
This could be perhaps why he seems to be all but forgotten in the fields of scholarly research into media and its effects: in my experience, those scholars automatically see media and technology seen an improvement of our lives and an enrichment of our culture. Personally I don’t think this always applies and that there is a lot to discover in more ancient forms of technology and culture, but more importantly Postman offers an excellent view of how our thoughts and opinions are shaped by the technology we use.
Of course, this applied to the introduction of, for instance, the printing press as much as it does to the popularization of the Internet, and of “always being connected” through our smartphones. He presents an excellent reminder to keep thinking and analyzing who we are, how we want to use our technology and if we want to let it influence us or not.
booksbrewsandtunes's review against another edition
4.0
No one better at predicting how the future will look and the world will evolve. Way ahead of his time
rsmits's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
To rate this book is to give into technopoly. How can a book be a number of stars? I can recommend this book and say that it is more relevant today than when it was written. There are parts that frustrated me, parts that rang true, parts that made me pause and wonder about what exactly was being said. This was thought provoking and a highly accesible read. Anyone who feels like this hyper-connected world is losing its connection to itself will find something that resonates.
jpowerj's review against another edition
4.0
Neil Postman thinks on just a totally different level from the average person. I'm not even necessarily saying that it's good - it usually is, but sometimes he goes off into the stratosphere and I lose him. But if you want to have seemingly innocuous concepts like grades or words or science framed and analyzed in a way that you never would have thought to frame/analyze them in, this book is for you. Maybe when I'm like 20 years older and wiser I'll come back to this book and the level of abstraction will finally be accessible?
eososray's review against another edition
4.0
This is an extremely interesting view of how our past and current technology has and is affecting our culture, countries, and world. The author starts at the printing press and continues to the current global media and describes the affects, good and bad, that technology has had upon us. Whether you agree with his views or not, this is a fasinating look at how our perceptions and attitudes have changed with our advances.
elizlizabeth's review
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
The main ideas were very interesting to me as an educator and definitely gave me food for thought. I'm surprised at how current the critic is given the time this was written and the one we live in now.
I felt that it was very US centric at times and even laughed at some of the more nationalist notions. I would love to read someone picking at this specifically, but it wasn't a big enough problem to me. I enjoyed the writing style and would definitely read this again and look for more books by this author.
I felt that it was very US centric at times and even laughed at some of the more nationalist notions. I would love to read someone picking at this specifically, but it wasn't a big enough problem to me. I enjoyed the writing style and would definitely read this again and look for more books by this author.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Abortion, and Colonisation