I really enjoyed reading his ideas about social research and the use of statistics in contemporary media. ( )

Brilliant book. The Technopoly Story: Progress without limits, rights without responsibilities, technology without cost.

The basic premise, which he doesn't state explicitly, is that contemporary American culture treats technology as being something h ( )

A valuable perspective but still somewhat reactionary. Postman does not adequately convince me that technology is now our master. He does show the extent to which we are isolated from the underlying dynamics, not realizing why we use technologies or questioning their merit. He also demonstrates a technological equivalent to Macluhan's "medium is the message" argument. Finally, his discussion of scientism and education introduce important points about the general status in these areas. His discussion of science is particularly interesting for the way he sees the general numerization of everything. He does invent a few too many terms. ( )

I expected from this book an early-90's version of The Cult of the Amateur, and was pleasantly surprised at the philosophical discussion of what we lose versus what we gain by adopting new technologies. Particularly interesting was the "ecology" of technology, in the sense that major technological changes alter the bigger picture of we perceive the world, what's valuable, how to define abstract ideas, etc.

Things went downhill quickly after the first chapter, when he introduced his very flawed societal classification trichotomy. The "tool-using society" uses technology to accomplish specific purposes, but the universe is reassuringly centered on religion, family, and a higher power of morality. The "technocracy" believes in progress and improving man's lot by the use of technology, and the loss of absolute religious authority leads to the breakdown of families and society. In the "technopoly", technology has taken over, efficiency is a virtue for its own sake, people have too much information, and religion and morality are thrown out the window.

The book, particularly its history of technology, is extremely Euro-centric, despite its claims of universality. It also fails to explain the actual reality of modern America, such as political power of evangelical Christians; in our "technopoly", religion is supposed to have crumbled.

Postman's writing style is much more professional than the standard polemic on the topic, and his citation of major intellectual figures is an attempt to add credibility to his argument. Apparently, his scare tactic has worked, given other reviews I've seen. It's tempting to buy into his argument that tries to build a monster out of buzzwords like "efficiency", and the feeling of "what is our world coming to?" that has tormented generation after generation, but it's a boogeyman in the closet.

(Q) ( )

This may be hagiographical, but this book was quite amazing. Well-crafted, illuminating illustration, enjoyable to read, thought-provoking, complete with some application to becoming a "loving resistance fighter" to the Technopoly. ( )