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Amusing Ourselves to Death
1 creator use or recommend it
1 recommend
2 mention
Last discussed Sep 17, 2026
A 1985 book by Neil Postman arguing that television has trivialized public discourse by turning serious matters into entertainment.
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EK
Ezra Klein
recommends
Used for: Understanding how media changes expectations for all content and discourse
Praised: Prophetic argument about how entertainment mediums change expectations for ed...
"There's a great Neil Postman argument that he makes in Amusing Ourselves to Death, which is always one of my books I recommend to people."
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Salim Ismail
mentioned
Used for: Referenced to illustrate the historical decline of substantive political debate from Lincoln-era 9-hour debates to modern sound bites and memes
Praised: Described as 'a wonderful read'
"I remember seeing a comment from Neil Postman who wrote this book called Amusing Ourselves to Death, which is a wonderful read."
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Cal Newport
mentioned
Used for: Understanding how media technologies shape cultural thinking and cognition
Praised: Contains a deep technocritical argument beyond its surface-level critique of ...
vs: Newport says he draws more heavily from Postman's Technopoly than from this book
"I like Amusing Ourselves to Death. It definitely is a standalone book worth reading. What people often get wrong about it is they think it's just a book about TV being bad. But there is a deeper technocritical argument that's proven very influenti..."
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