---
product_id: 92524857
title: "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business"
price: "฿2434"
currency: THB
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.co.th/products/92524857-amusing-ourselves-to-death-public-discourse-in-the-age-show
store_origin: TH
region: Thailand
---

# Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

**Price:** ฿2434
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

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- **What is this?** Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
- **How much does it cost?** ฿2434 with free shipping
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## Description

Review: Postman hits the mark again. - The language of this book is quite dense in parts, and the arguments are complex, so it took me a while to get to grips with it, which, I suppose, makes me a living proof that Postman is right about what tlelvision has done to my generation. Having got over this hurdle, I found the book thought provoking and even, dare I say it, entertaining. Many of us have our suspicions about the adverse effects that television has on our society and culture. No-one articulates them better than Postman. For 'show business' read 'television', as Postman's main beef is with TV. No doubt had he been writing this book today he would have included the internet and various other electronic means of communication. The 'public discourse' of the subtitle covers religion, advertising, news and education as well as politics. Postman's contention is that none of these are suited to being disseminated on TV, which is essentially an entertainment medium. So whereas watching 'The A Team' does us no harm at all, watching the TV news or 'Sesame Street' does. The book has as a running theme the contrasting future dystopias presented in Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World'. Postman argues that it is the Huxleyan rather than the Orwellian future that we should fear the most. TV is now our soma. In the last chapter, he writes, 'In the Huxleyan prophecy, Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours.' What a pity that Postman is no longer around to give us his thoughts on a certain Channel 4 programme.
Review: How the new medias are determining today's society and reality - This book is great in terms of the train of thoughts and reasoning that is able to trigger and it's very valuable in its long term and historical point of view on media and content diffusion in the modern age. The book is massively interesting on 2 fronts 1) Raising awareness on the impact of new media (television being the new media at the time Postman was writing) on communication, content and cognition 2) Analyzing the long term, major impact of new medias effects on political, social and cultural trends. Even if the book was written before the entire internet revolution happened it's still very current and the trends and consequences identified by Postman are still in full force and effect in 2014.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | 133,138 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 2 in Television Technology 4 in Television History & Criticism 1,102 in Reference (Books) |
| Customer reviews | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (3,854) |
| Dimensions  | 1.52 x 12.95 x 19.56 cm |
| Edition  | 20th |
| ISBN-10  | 014303653X |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0143036531 |
| Item weight  | 1.05 kg |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 184 pages |
| Publication date  | 27 Dec. 2005 |
| Publisher  | Penguin Group USA |

## Images

![Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/7111-QqvNCL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Postman hits the mark again.
*by J***S on 16 June 2007*

The language of this book is quite dense in parts, and the arguments are complex, so it took me a while to get to grips with it, which, I suppose, makes me a living proof that Postman is right about what tlelvision has done to my generation. Having got over this hurdle, I found the book thought provoking and even, dare I say it, entertaining. Many of us have our suspicions about the adverse effects that television has on our society and culture. No-one articulates them better than Postman. For 'show business' read 'television', as Postman's main beef is with TV. No doubt had he been writing this book today he would have included the internet and various other electronic means of communication. The 'public discourse' of the subtitle covers religion, advertising, news and education as well as politics. Postman's contention is that none of these are suited to being disseminated on TV, which is essentially an entertainment medium. So whereas watching 'The A Team' does us no harm at all, watching the TV news or 'Sesame Street' does. The book has as a running theme the contrasting future dystopias presented in Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World'. Postman argues that it is the Huxleyan rather than the Orwellian future that we should fear the most. TV is now our soma. In the last chapter, he writes, 'In the Huxleyan prophecy, Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours.' What a pity that Postman is no longer around to give us his thoughts on a certain Channel 4 programme.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ How the new medias are determining today's society and reality
*by P***O on 30 December 2014*

This book is great in terms of the train of thoughts and reasoning that is able to trigger and it's very valuable in its long term and historical point of view on media and content diffusion in the modern age. The book is massively interesting on 2 fronts 1) Raising awareness on the impact of new media (television being the new media at the time Postman was writing) on communication, content and cognition 2) Analyzing the long term, major impact of new medias effects on political, social and cultural trends. Even if the book was written before the entire internet revolution happened it's still very current and the trends and consequences identified by Postman are still in full force and effect in 2014.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Still an interesting book
*by A***H on 26 September 2017*

This book is not as dated as one could imagine and I would recommend reading the forward last or at least re-reading it once the book is finished. I would have liked to have seen a chapter on how religion has a similar 'diversionary' function. Well worth a read.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
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*Product available on Desertcart Thailand*
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*Last updated: 2026-02-22*