Rating: 
Summary: Let it sink in...
Review: This book is definitely a must for the general population, but we all know they will jsut forget about after they watch 50 hours of TV a week and drive around in their expensive BMW. So I'll cut to the chase. This book is what is needed and it brings up numerous points about the general laziness of society and the bad influence it is. And a week after I finished this book, what the author was really trying to say hit me. Read this book if you value your sanity and want to truly have a glimpse into how bad the world is. It confirmed all of my thoughts on the problems of the world. Well worth the time to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: informative and easy to read
Review: This was one of the most intriquing books I've ever read. McKibben investigates the different realities of TV and nature. His results, as seen through this entire book, are shocking in their truth.
Rating:
Summary: A Thoughtful, Imaginative & Scarey look At Media's Effect!
Review: Welcome to our teletronic nightmare! "The Age of Missing Information" is an intriguing book that covers an interesting and diverting subject; the human effects of sustained exposure to the seductive silver images flowing from our TV sets. As a people, we Americans are increasingly spending more time immersing ourselves in these unnatural, artificially generated, and carefully maintained environments, in what the author describes as the dangerously seductive throes of a quite strange (and unrepresentative) version of reality. This fascinating book cleverly illustrates how we are negatively affected by such massive (and more and more predominating) exposure to media-generated artifice. Although the immediate focus of the book revolves around comparing what he learns as a result of a random 24 hour period in front of his boob tube as opposed to another day spent out in the natural world, what he really seems to be questioning is the electronic media's subtle but significant effect on our consciousness, on the way we perceive, interpret, and interact with the world outside our doors. It is chilling to recognize the degree to which sustained congress with the electronic media negatively paints, influences, and organizes our conscious perspectives on all we see and do. One of the most dangerous results seems to be a receding appreciation for and familiarity with the natural world. This can lead to some dangerous confusion about what is and is not real. For people habitually electronically connected, the world of artifice & entertainment becomes the predominating influence on conscious awareness. What is the result of sustained exposure to the electronic equivalent of junk food? No one seems to know, but it can't be too great. The problem is that for a growing number of young people, this is the life style of preference, one that makes its devotees creatures drawn more to the flashy and entertaining artificial images flashing on their TV screens than to more natural features of the world outside the family den. Like Chauncy Gardener, the fictitious anti-hero of the movie "Being There", such individuals can believe anything and know nothing because all they appreciate and have any experience with is the sort of specious nonsense flooding out of their televisions. Next time you wonder why an impressionable 11-year-old kid can grab a pistol and shoot his teacher for little or no reason, ask yourself how much TV violence he has been exposed to. Although this book constitutes a chilling wake-up call, it is delivered in an humorous, entertaining, and quite readable narrative, and is a book I would recommend that any concerned adult read before letting Junior sit enraptured for hours by the TV set as a surrogate babysitter. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A insightful critique of what Television really teaches us.
Review: What would you learn if you taped every channel coming into your TV for 24 hours from your cable system. Then review and compare the 2000 hours of video tape to 24 hours of camping on a mountaintop near a pond. What will each one teach you? Bill McKibben does an excellent job of capturing what the real impact is on our thoughts when we watch television. I was impressed by the questions he raised and feel this is an important book.
Rating:
Summary: A insightful critique of what Television really teaches us.
Review: What would you learn if you taped every channel coming into your TV for 24 hours from your cable system. Then review and compare the 2000 hours of video tape to 24 hours of camping on a mountaintop near a pond. What will each one teach you? Bill McKibben does an excellent job of capturing what the real impact is on our thoughts when we watch television. I was impressed by the questions he raised and feel this is an important book.
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