TECHNOPOLY PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Postman N | 10 pages | 01 Apr 1993 | Random House USA Inc | 9780679745402 | English | New York, United States Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman I hate that Social Science is displacing being well read when discussing opinions of public affair. This is just another rebuke of modern culture written by someone who has refused to adapt to changes. I don't know how to fix this; solve the problem for me. Oh, and if you don't agree with my assertions then you are an idiot. You completely understand exactly what you don't agree with as you're reading it. It's a good example of persuasive writing, but infuriating to anyone who is informed on the subjects that he speaks on as the learned reader can spot his "white lies" deliberate or born of ignorance, I'm not sure , incorrect assertions, and use of logical fallacies. View all 3 comments. Sep 23, Kris rated it really liked it Shelves: read-write-think , audiobooks. Very direct and short. I don't agree with everything he says, but it's worth a read as he has some interesting ideas. It's about the history of technology and its influence on our Western culture: how we think about tools and how we train our brains to work. He talks about the difference between learning information and facts knowledge vs. Most of all, he urges us to start critically analyzing our interaction with technology Very direct and short. Most of all, he urges us to start critically analyzing our interaction with technology something that still astounds me people don't do. He references ideas from The Closing of the American Mind. Some of his ideas reminded me of Lewis's "men without chests" from The Abolition of Man. I still want to read Postman's The Disappearance of Childhood. Jan 13, Paul Ataua rated it liked it. Despite being published in and therefore dealing with technology well before the internet revolution, many of the ideas are very relevant in our world today. Some really thought provoking points, like asking how important the invention of the printing press was to the coming of the Lutheran reformation. The central hypothesis that there are good and bad effects to every new technological advance needs to be put forward, but the book tends to repeat that point so many times and never really Despite being published in and therefore dealing with technology well before the internet revolution, many of the ideas are very relevant in our world today. The central hypothesis that there are good and bad effects to every new technological advance needs to be put forward, but the book tends to repeat that point so many times and never really goes deeper than that. May 28, Beth Barnett rated it really liked it. Another book about the danger of trusting too fully in technology. Postman's argument encourages us to keep those low-tech ideas and solutions that still work better and view technology with reason, looking for that which truly benefits us as humans, rather than embracing technology that degrades us. For similar writing, read Wendell Berry also. Jul 19, Trevor Atwood added it. It is without a moral center. It puts in its place efficiency, interest, and economic advance. It promises heaven on earth through the conveniences of technological progress. It casts aside all traditional narratives and symbols that suggest stability and orderliness, and tells, instead, of a life of skills, technical expertise, and the ecstasy of consumption. I loved his address of statistics in particular. Did you hear about the statistician that drowned crossing the stream that was an average of 4. Then follow up with this one. Aug 25, Matthew Rogers rated it it was amazing. This book will be relevant forever. Dec 31, Alex Stroshine rated it it was amazing Shelves: for-regent , sociocultural. For instance, Technopoly has created new specialists and experts who are able to wield and control technology and thus gain power, but to the detriment of other specialists who have been rendered obsolete by technology p. Postman also laments how we have come to suffer from information overload, echoing criticisms he made in Amusing Ourselves to Death in which he bemoaned how we are flooded with useless information that has little impact on our daily lives p. In chapter five the author discusses the role of institutions and how they help to separate worthy information from useless data; for instance, colleges prevent pseudoscience from being considered academic p. Postman notes that culture privileges statistical, quantifiable data, but not all knowledge can be measured purely by statistics. While some churches deliberately practice communion rarely usually these churches are suspicious of sacraments in general , can it be said that monthly communion is more significant than weekly communion? Jun 20, Brittany Horton rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorites. Anyone who opens my copy of Technopoly will see how much I enjoyed reading it. It is now filled with writing, underlining, stars, post-it notes and highlighter marks. This is my second book by Postman and I am definitely a huge fan of his theories. First of all, this is by no means anti-technology book. Postman gives a mostly unbiased opinion on the state of the technology culture today the Technopoly and how we as a society can begin to integrate technology into our classrooms without it fi Anyone who opens my copy of Technopoly will see how much I enjoyed reading it. Postman gives a mostly unbiased opinion on the state of the technology culture today the Technopoly and how we as a society can begin to integrate technology into our classrooms without it first swallowing education whole- but that's only the last chapter. Most of the book Postman spends discussing the history of the technological revolution, which started long before my generation. He discusses and explains how one generations' revolutionary invention has landed us here; now. He brings in an abundance of rich resources and ideas for the reader to consider. I appreciated Postman's emphasis on history in this book, he hardly goes into anything without first discussing the written past of whatever he is speaking about. This book helped me connect so many pieces of history together to see the bigger picture unfold. I really loved reading this and found most of the chapters fascinating- but reader beware- this is by no means a leisure read. Although fascinating- it will require your full attention. As previously stated I highlighted and saved many ideas, thoughts, and theories from this book but I especially loved this quote from the last chapter, "To remain ignorant of things that happened before you were born is to remain a child. Jan 06, Lucsly rated it it was amazing. Despite being written in , this book offers a view of the influence of technology on our lives that is as relevant as ever, if not more so in this age of government espionage on all our communications, of corporations greedily soaking up the personal information we happily share on social networking sites, of tech companies believing that their latest smart phone will improve our lives. To be sure, the author the cultural critic Neil Postman is not a Luddite: he does not deny the usefulness Despite being written in , this book offers a view of the influence of technology on our lives that is as relevant as ever, if not more so in this age of government espionage on all our communications, of corporations greedily soaking up the personal information we happily share on social networking sites, of tech companies believing that their latest smart phone will improve our lives. To be sure, the author the cultural critic Neil Postman is not a Luddite: he does not deny the usefulness of technology, but he warns against placing them central in our lives, in believing in them without any reflection on them. He offers a dissenting voice in the chorus of people worshiping technology. Even better, he remains nuanced and subtle in all of his arguments - a trait that I admire and rarely see in other writings about media and technology. This could be perhaps why he seems to be all but forgotten in the fields of scholarly research into media and its effects: in my experience, those scholars automatically see media and technology seen an improvement of our lives and an enrichment of our culture. He presents an excellent reminder to keep thinking and analyzing who we are, how we want to use our technology and if we want to let it influence us or not. Aug 16, Daniel Nelms rated it it was amazing Shelves: cultural-issues-apologetics. After reading this book, your eyes will be opened as to how much our lives are governed, defined and shaped by technology. It is indeed a tyranny of technology, a technopoly. Answer: there is a cause and here is the effect. Answer: there is a measurable cause and effect, etc. This is a must read. Apr 04, Murtaza rated it liked it. To be honest many of the ideas he espoused here felt somewhat familiar to me. In fairness, this book was written decades ago and so his ideas have had a long time to filter out. I wonder what he would make of the Technopoly given that this book was written even before the Internet was invented. He correctly notes "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman is one of my favorite books, and Technopoly offers some of the same kind of effective cultural criticism that made that one such a classic.