Rating: 
Summary: Mr Ramble
Review: I also had to read this book for a college class. I find postman to be a true rambler. I rolled my eyes several times and procrastinated considerably during the reading of this book. I still come away from this book thinking well what it wrong with being a technopoly? Perhaps it's our destiny? So be it.
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Summary: Rather Pointless
Review: I do not agree with many things in this book, I never really found a point to it. I will say, it did make me think of things in a different perspective that I might not of ever contimplated. Still it did not change my views of technology. I see no reason to read this other than as a college requirement.
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Summary: Dated material, but a revealing look at tech nonetheless
Review: I first picked this book up in high school more than 10 years ago. More recently, as a Ph.D. candidate in engineering, I gave it another read. From both perspectives, a teenager with some grade-school science courses and a tech-saavy graduate student, I have thoroughly enjoyed this book.This is a book about how technology affects the way a society interprets and thinks about all aspects of life and culture. Postman starts by looking at the past and very low tech (writing, for instance) and ends up examining the tech of the present. This book was first published in the 80s with a reprint in 1993, so some of Post's observations about computers and TV are very dated. I would love to see a 2nd edition to this book to address the technology of today and it's accessibility. Despite the dated comments on present tech (which in the present age is understandibly difficult to keep up with) the overall thesis is highly relevant and this book should be read by all, science and tech enthusiast or no. It will definitely make you think about things you have previously taken for granted. The next time you use any technology, from a pen to a pda to a dvd player, you will ask yourself how this skews your world view. Highly reccomended.
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Summary: An excellent view on the impact of technology.
Review: I found this book to be one of the best I have read on the subject. Contrary to other reviewers here, I thought it was easy to read. Postman provides both a view on the changes that are occurring in society due to technology, as well as look at the dark side associated with our assumption that technology only works to solve the problem it was created for. Though he does get a little preachy near the end, I think that we would do well to heed his admonition that trusting technology too much leads to loss of liberty, privacy, and humanism.
Rating: 
Summary: Social science as story-telling
Review: I heard Neil Postman on a radio interview for this book, several years before I read "Amusing Ourselves to Death," which I consider a better book. I went back and read Technopoly, because it is (for better or for worse) in many respects a classic in the field. After reading "Disappearance" and "Objections," I've found that Postman does a good job maintaining a basic premise or thesis throughout all of his books. In technopoly, Postman offers an interesting perspective on those who would "gaze on technology as a lover does on his beloved," known as technophiles, and those who are on the other end of the spectrum, I'll call them technocritics. This is a book that clearly defines the potential problems that we may incur if we blindly allow technology to answer society's most pressing questions. As a quantitative researcher, who recognizes that a qualitative approach is sometimes necessary to tease out the richness of data (perhaps later to be empirically tested), I really enjoyed Postman's perspectives in the chapter titled "Scientism." In this chapter, and throughout the whole book, Postman included wonderful little vignettes: "Freud once sent a copy of one of his books to Einstein, asking for his evaluation of it. Einstein replied that he thought the book was exemplary but was not qualified to judge its scientific merit." I see there are several other reviews, and so as not to make mine too long, let me end with this summation: Postman is a good writer and he's got lots of interesting threads of reasoning in this book. Not all of his arguments have a tremendous amount of backing, but you will gain valuable persepectives that you may not have thought of/about previously. From that standpoint, and the fact that his paperbacks aren't extremely expensive, I recommend adding it to your shopping basket.
Rating:
Summary: Social science as story-telling
Review: I heard Neil Postman on a radio interview for this book, several years before I read "Amusing Ourselves to Death," which I consider a better book. I went back and read Technopoly, because it is (for better or for worse) in many respects a classic in the field. After reading "Disappearance" and "Objections," I've found that Postman does a good job maintaining a basic premise or thesis throughout all of his books. In technopoly, Postman offers an interesting perspective on those who would "gaze on technology as a lover does on his beloved," known as technophiles, and those who are on the other end of the spectrum, I'll call them technocritics. This is a book that clearly defines the potential problems that we may incur if we blindly allow technology to answer society's most pressing questions. As a quantitative researcher, who recognizes that a qualitative approach is sometimes necessary to tease out the richness of data (perhaps later to be empirically tested), I really enjoyed Postman's perspectives in the chapter titled "Scientism." In this chapter, and throughout the whole book, Postman included wonderful little vignettes: "Freud once sent a copy of one of his books to Einstein, asking for his evaluation of it. Einstein replied that he thought the book was exemplary but was not qualified to judge its scientific merit." I see there are several other reviews, and so as not to make mine too long, let me end with this summation: Postman is a good writer and he's got lots of interesting threads of reasoning in this book. Not all of his arguments have a tremendous amount of backing, but you will gain valuable persepectives that you may not have thought of/about previously. From that standpoint, and the fact that his paperbacks aren't extremely expensive, I recommend adding it to your shopping basket.
Rating:
Summary: a Love-Hate relationship
Review: I love technology. I tell you this, even though it must be obvious to you considering where these words are appearing. I love technology, but I'm not blind to its problems. To those who say technology has no faults, I ask you when was the last time your computer crashed or whatever happened to that grand notion of a "paperless office"? Technology is something between Pandora's box and Prometheus' gift; I would not want to live without it because I've read history, but I can also imagine an even better world. Neil Postman may or may not love technology, but he certainly knows its failings. Postman is the author of several books on the interplay between American culture and technology, and his most recent, Technopoly, is in some ways a culmination of his previous efforts. Postman is an educator who is distressed by the state of American education. Instead of simply decrying the fact that schools are changing and moaning for a return to the "good ol' days," Postman took the time to understand the nature of the beast, dissect it, and present his conservation strategy. As he states, his idea of getting "back to the basics" is not quite the same as that typically bandied about by politicians and policy makers. First, the argument. Postman describes what he calls the three stages of how a culture deals with technology: 1) tool-using, 2) technocracy, 3) technopoly. In a tool-using culture, technical improvements are limited to the uses at hand. This differs from the technocracy, where the tools "play a central role in the thought world of the culture." In the technopoly, tools become the culture. Astute readers may sense a possible linkage here with Alvin Toffler's three waves of culture detailed in The Third Wave. Toffler views each wave as having a trough and crest, with monumental social impact happening as each wave breaks upon the shore of human culture. Toffler says the reason for the breakdown in our traditional structures today is that we are in the break between the second and third wave. Toffler predicts a time of stability in the future, in which this new wave of culture and technology will have enhanced all of our lives. Postman and Toffler are not exactly foes in their views of the waves of culture, but differ on how we are to approach this change. Toffler implies that it will sort itself out -- a type of laissez-faire view of societal change that makes it easier to understand Toffler's ties to Newt Gingrich. Postman feels we must address the change, or it will destroy us. To that end, Postman writes a history of the growth of technology in American society. His history centers on the impact of technology on the medical profession -- how it saw the progression of each technological stage to the detriment of both doctors and patients. As damning as this evaluation is, he follows it with an even better one from our standpoint: the impact of computers on American culture. As I said before, I love technology, and computer technology most of all, but it was impossible not to follow Postman's clear and reasoned analysis of the computer's impact on society. Had Postman ended here, having formulated his theory and verified it with examples, the book would have been simply interesting, but Postman follows it with a suggested course of action. It is unsurprising that, as an educator, his solutions center on this area of society, but he states that his suggestions could never be implemented without being supported in the political and legal arenas, to name two. Postman proposes a goal for American education -- no longer, he says, can we simply train people for employment (the current state of education), but we must instill in people a purpose. His proposed goal is the betterment of humanity. To achieve this goal, he suggests that we get back to the basics in our schools, but by this he means the study of the underlying assumptions of our culture rather than just basic skills. That is, he posits a curriculum that includes the history of every subject as part of that subject, including the history (or ideology) of history itself. Only by understanding how we came to be in the place we stand now, will we be able to move forward. Only a few days before I finished reading Technopoly, Microsoft and MCI announced an initiative to get every public school a presence on the Internet. While it is a generous offer, we should examine the purpose of it all. How exactly will this aid our educational goals? I love technology and I'm bullish on the prospect of the interactive properties of the Internet to help bring about a new form of thinking, critical Americans (especially as opposed to the last mass media technology that came about, television), but that does not mean that the implementation of the technology does not need to be evaluated. And this, in a nutshell, is what Postman is about. I've probably done a major disservice to Postman in summarizing so much of his treatise here, but I hope that it has been sufficiently intriguing that it actually got you to thinking. I suggest as a follow-up that you try the text itself or some of the works listed in the bibliography. It is what I'll be doing.
Rating:
Summary: An essential tool for understanding change
Review: I read this book years ago, but its insights continually help me understand the changes taking place around us. Postman's essential point is that technological change-and he's talking about all such change, from the Stone Age on-inevitably brings about changes in culture. These changes are both profound and subtle, so Postman offers a wealth of examples from different eras. The bigger the technological change, the more dramatic the cultural shift is. He's not, repeat not, against technological development per se. He simply asks that you look at it and try to see the changes as they happen in the hope of mitigating the inevitable downsides. New technologies involve what he called "Faustian bargains"-they give you something, but they also take something away. I have to say that I was very taken aback by the number of people here who really didn't seem to address or, frankly, understand, the main point of this fine and valuable book.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to read at times but overall a worthwhile book
Review: I tend to agree with the student's complaint that the book is like drinking sand, but overall it was worth wading through. Neil Postman's writing styles rambles quite a bit which is very distracting. Also, the reader has to assume that his seemingly random string of facts that he brings us to agrue his case are true. But once you get past that and stick with it, his occasional gems of insight show through (especially in chapter #9 entitled "Scientism"). Neil Postman's reminds me of an eccentric professor that you would have in college: while he is very perceptive and enlightening in the classroom environment, you soon realise when class is over that he is dressed as if he didn't know it was 1998.
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Summary: Are you concerned with the evolution of American culture?
Review: I'm disappointed with some of the negative reviews I've read about this book. I think this is one of the most important books written this decade. Postman is not the Luddite that many make him out to be. He simply recognizes that American culture is evolving with technological advancement. New technologies do not simply add to our culture. They fundamentaly change it. Some of the changes are good, but we must realize the negative effects as well.
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