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dogtrax's review against another edition
5.0
This is a powerful look at the media, with great graphic art to make the points being made.
danchibnall's review against another edition
4.0
Update: read the new 2021 edition and it’s also excellent.
I LOVED this book. It was right up my alley. It ties together history, philosophy, media, and Marshall McLuhan (and many other luminaries). Gladstone does an excellent job of showing us how we create, express, interpret, and consume the information around us and what effect that has on us. At times the book can be a bit hurried, but overall the graphics work really well and her writing is excellent. I highly recommend it. Plus, the book itself has so many great quotes and ideas from other thinkers that it's a bit like an illustrated annotated bibliography.
I LOVED this book. It was right up my alley. It ties together history, philosophy, media, and Marshall McLuhan (and many other luminaries). Gladstone does an excellent job of showing us how we create, express, interpret, and consume the information around us and what effect that has on us. At times the book can be a bit hurried, but overall the graphics work really well and her writing is excellent. I highly recommend it. Plus, the book itself has so many great quotes and ideas from other thinkers that it's a bit like an illustrated annotated bibliography.
rebeccacider's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic novel about media bias and information seeking behavior written by NPR correspondent - pretty much my ideal nonfiction book, but somehow I didn't enjoy this very much.
Perhaps because Gladstone is new to the medium, I found the book suffered greatly from a lack of narrative and structural cohesion. Her apparent thesis in the introduction - that consumers and advertisers cause media bias - did not seem to be the guiding thesis of her discussion, which spanned history, psychology, and personal opinion.
This really threw me off, and as she shared anecdotes and opinions I kept thinking, "Yes, but why are you telling me this?" Her tone was often one of refutation, but I couldn't figure out whose argument she was critiquing.
A better frame narrative would have helped. So much of nonfiction writing is telling people what you are about to tell them.
Perhaps because Gladstone is new to the medium, I found the book suffered greatly from a lack of narrative and structural cohesion. Her apparent thesis in the introduction - that consumers and advertisers cause media bias - did not seem to be the guiding thesis of her discussion, which spanned history, psychology, and personal opinion.
This really threw me off, and as she shared anecdotes and opinions I kept thinking, "Yes, but why are you telling me this?" Her tone was often one of refutation, but I couldn't figure out whose argument she was critiquing.
A better frame narrative would have helped. So much of nonfiction writing is telling people what you are about to tell them.
jamiezaccaria's review against another edition
4.0
A good, if dense read. Combining this thick topic with graphic images was the perfect way to make it more digestible.
pamiverson's review against another edition
4.0
The On the Media host looks at the influence of media on our lives, including history of media and how it is evolving now. She concludes that more media opportunities and freedom does make us more knowledgeable and responsible. Thought-provoking – all this in a graphic form!!
mschlat's review against another edition
4.0
Great book --- I could have read about twice more of the history of media.
pbobrit's review against another edition
4.0
A great book by NPRs Brooke Gladstone on the relationship between the media, government and the public who consume that media, all told in graphic novel form. Part history of the media's involvement in history both as a tool for influencing it and also how it has been manipulated by it. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in how the information that surrounds them shapes them and they shape it.
heatherbermingham's review against another edition
4.0
One of my favorite things in the world is how there are more and more graphic novels tackling nonfiction material. I think it's often a really ideal marriage between subject and medium. The format of this book is very similar to Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics." An illustrated version of author Brooke Gladstone walks the reader through a history of the media, tackling various issues - yellow journalism, various media biases, how the Internet has been/will be good and bad for journalism. There's a section on journalism during various wars that the U.S. has been involved with that I thought was particularly interesting and thought-provoking. Definitely recommended, partly because of how good the material is, partly because of how cool the format is.
laurenash's review against another edition
4.0
"Today, reporters aren't supposed to make the world better. Their job is to tell you what's going on, so you can make it better."
This book felt like it took forever to read--not a bad thing, but there was just SO much to take in. There are a lot of things I learned about the media/presidents/censorship for the first time, which is scary.
This book felt like it took forever to read--not a bad thing, but there was just SO much to take in. There are a lot of things I learned about the media/presidents/censorship for the first time, which is scary.