Nobrow : The Culture of Marketing, the Marketing of Culture

Fascinating, utterly fascinating, if you're interested in: John Seabrook; John Seabrook's family; the sophistication of John Seabrook and his family; the old wealth (deserved, of course) of John Seabrook's family; did I, John Seabrook, mention that I went to Princeton; and, of course, John Seabrook.

If you're not interested in those things, this book, which is purportedly about the melding of high and low culture but which is actually about, yes, you guessed it, John Seabrook, is pretty much a waste of paper. I have no idea why he didn't just go ahead and name it I, JOHN SEABROOK -- maybe his editor wisely drew the line. Not that it helped.

I enjoyed this book - in fact, I read it in one sitting. I feel a little bit like it was air, though. I would classify it as a "beach book" because it echoes my life in the way that I think "Sex and the City" must echo some other women's lives - it's my life in hyperdrive, my life as I kind of but not really aspire to be, my life in some alternate universe where I am more attractive, better at my job, an important person...The actual contents? Interesting riffs on David Geffen and Ben Kweller during the "Radish" era. A look inside the New Yorker, inside MTV, and inside the life of an American aristocrat of a type that I can't imagine. 1990s nostalgia. I may have found this book more interesting than I otherwise would have because I'm show more encountering the East Coast and the East Coast tastemaker world for the first time. Despite the title, there's very little in it about marketing, per se. There is a good deal about culture, however. show less

I enjoyed this book - in fact, I read it in one sitting. I feel a little bit like it was air, though. I would classify it as a "beach book" because it echoes my life in the way that I think "Sex and the City" must echo some other women's lives - it's my life in hyperdrive, my life as I kind of but not really aspire to be, my life in some alternate universe where I am more attractive, better at my job, an important person...The actual contents? Interesting riffs on David Geffen and Ben Kweller during the "Radish" era. A look inside the New Yorker, inside MTV, and inside the life of an American aristocrat of a type that I can't imagine. 1990s nostalgia. I may have found this book more interesting than I otherwise would have because I'm show more encountering the East Coast and the East Coast tastemaker world for the first time. Despite the title, there's very little in it about marketing, per se. There is a good deal about culture, however. show less

This is an interesting, anecdotal look at one writer's experience with trends and advertising in the magazine industry. I was hoping for something a bit more scholarship than memoir, but that's my fault for not reading the "about the author" blurb before I purchased. It isn't particularly substantive, and redundant in places, but I found it entertaining nonetheless.

—and i don't say this lightly—lose your allusion