[amazon_link id=”014303653X” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]”Amusing ourselves to death”[/amazon_link] is the title of a book by Neil Postman, an American author and media critic. I had seen this book mentioned on Tim Challies’ Blog a while ago and was happily surprised to find the French translation a few weeks ago. It is fascinating reading.
Postman shows how television has transformed American culture. What used to be a society based on the printed book where everybody read (from the farmer to the intellectual), and was able to think has become a society where entertainment has become the norm. Although the book was first published in the eighties, it is still very relevant. His chapter on TV evangelists gives much food for thought to preachers of the word. If you can find a copy, read it. Postman died a few years ago, but I wonder what he would have said of today’s world of twitter and facebook.