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moonlitface's review against another edition
3.0
Akhirnya selesai juga….
Bahasan di buku ini menarik sebenarnya; tentang perkembangan teknologi yang bisa jadi pedang bermata dua dan berdampak ke American culture hingga moralitas manusia dalam berkehidupan. Kedengarannya simpel banget, tapi bahasan di buku ini luas banget. Di sisi lain, otak kecilku merasa buku ini sangat info-dumping sampai hampir DNF di Bab 9 dan 10....
Bab 1-8: ⭐ 3,5
Informatif, ngejelasin sejarah peradaban manusia seiring perkembangan teknologi.
Bab 9-10: ⭐ 2,5
Name-dumping!! Aku paham poin yang ingin disampaikan penulis, tapi nggak dengan detailnya, jujur.
Bab 11: ⭐ 4
Berisi wrap-up dari keseluruhan kritik terhadap teknologi yang dipaparkan di bab-bab sebelumnya. Ada “kiat-kiat” untuk nggak jadi budak teknologi. Sangat suka bab ini, bikin aku ikut mikir dan beberapa hal yang disampaikan sejalan dengan yang terjadi akhir-akhir ini di sekitarku….
Overall ⭐ 3,25
Bahasan di buku ini menarik sebenarnya; tentang perkembangan teknologi yang bisa jadi pedang bermata dua dan berdampak ke American culture hingga moralitas manusia dalam berkehidupan. Kedengarannya simpel banget, tapi bahasan di buku ini luas banget. Di sisi lain, otak kecilku merasa buku ini sangat info-dumping sampai hampir DNF di Bab 9 dan 10....
Bab 1-8: ⭐ 3,5
Informatif, ngejelasin sejarah peradaban manusia seiring perkembangan teknologi.
Bab 9-10: ⭐ 2,5
Name-dumping!! Aku paham poin yang ingin disampaikan penulis, tapi nggak dengan detailnya, jujur.
Bab 11: ⭐ 4
Berisi wrap-up dari keseluruhan kritik terhadap teknologi yang dipaparkan di bab-bab sebelumnya. Ada “kiat-kiat” untuk nggak jadi budak teknologi. Sangat suka bab ini, bikin aku ikut mikir dan beberapa hal yang disampaikan sejalan dengan yang terjadi akhir-akhir ini di sekitarku….
Overall ⭐ 3,25
luisdiegop94's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
thehokx's review against another edition
4.0
Information is power and must be filtered. Screw the bureaucrats. I want to live in the 1800’s.
thejdizzler's review against another edition
5.0
I wrote an article about this book
https://deusexvita.medium.com/is-technology-always-a-good-thing-fff1c7a00705
https://deusexvita.medium.com/is-technology-always-a-good-thing-fff1c7a00705
scordatura's review against another edition
5.0
Despite being written in 1992, 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. Personally I don’t think this always applies and that there is a lot to discover in more ancient forms of technology and culture, but more importantly Postman offers an excellent view of how our thoughts and opinions are shaped by the technology we use.
Of course, this applied to the introduction of, for instance, the printing press as much as it does to the popularization of the Internet, and of “always being connected” through our smartphones. 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.
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. Personally I don’t think this always applies and that there is a lot to discover in more ancient forms of technology and culture, but more importantly Postman offers an excellent view of how our thoughts and opinions are shaped by the technology we use.
Of course, this applied to the introduction of, for instance, the printing press as much as it does to the popularization of the Internet, and of “always being connected” through our smartphones. 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.
booksbrewsandtunes's review against another edition
4.0
No one better at predicting how the future will look and the world will evolve. Way ahead of his time
rsmits's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
To rate this book is to give into technopoly. How can a book be a number of stars? I can recommend this book and say that it is more relevant today than when it was written. There are parts that frustrated me, parts that rang true, parts that made me pause and wonder about what exactly was being said. This was thought provoking and a highly accesible read. Anyone who feels like this hyper-connected world is losing its connection to itself will find something that resonates.
jpowerj's review against another edition
4.0
Neil Postman thinks on just a totally different level from the average person. I'm not even necessarily saying that it's good - it usually is, but sometimes he goes off into the stratosphere and I lose him. But if you want to have seemingly innocuous concepts like grades or words or science framed and analyzed in a way that you never would have thought to frame/analyze them in, this book is for you. Maybe when I'm like 20 years older and wiser I'll come back to this book and the level of abstraction will finally be accessible?