I place the books I've read into several categories. Aside from Scripture, which of course falls into a unique category, the top category consists of great books that I read again and again. There are a number of books I would place in this category, one of which is Neil Postman's modern classic Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business.
 This book, first published in 1985, reveals what is probably the primary underlying cause of the descent of public discourse to the level of absurdity that it has reached today, namely, the change from a printed-word based culture to a television-image based based culture.
This change has gradually transformed the formerly rational content of serious public discourse in areas such as politics, news, education, and religion into trivial forms of mass entertainment. Postman explains that we have become unconsciously accustomed to a mode of discourse (television) that presents all subject matter as something intended for our amusement.
This is a highly informative, and often very funny, cultural critique. If you are interested in understanding how and why public discourse has degenerated into it's contemporary form, read Postman's book. You may even want to read it twice.
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Tags: Christianity and Modern Culture
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