PinnedOn Reading “On Photography”Still preparing for an immersion in Documentary Studies, I next took up Susan Sontag’s 1973 manifesto, “On Photography.”Mar 10, 2015Mar 10, 2015
PinnedOn Reading “The Power Broker” — Missing Chapters[Update: 9 January 2020. At the end of this May 2017 essay, I write that Robert Caro had not donated his surely voluminous papers to any…May 21, 20171May 21, 20171
PinnedOn Reading “The Power Broker”: Moses’ ResponseI closed the 1246-page book (almost 100 pages of notes) with questions that I will pursue in a future essay. But I took strange comfort in…May 21, 2017May 21, 2017
PinnedOn Reading “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” Chapter 1I am in the midst of re-reading Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death to see if the book might still be relevant to a future class on…Sep 2, 2018Sep 2, 2018
On Reading “All Marketers Lie (Tell Stories)”I am creating a class on Media Entrepreneurship with a friend and he wants to use a book by Seth Godin, “All Marketers Lie (Tell…Jan 22, 2021Jan 22, 2021
On Reading “Building Bacardi” — and a global architectural tourI travel often to Cuba, leading a study abroad program with university students. Any study of Cuba, of course, has to include a discussion…Jun 13, 2019Jun 13, 2019
On Reading “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” Chapter 11-ConclusionAmusing Ourselves to Death is not a long book — 163 pages of text. But it is not a “fast read.” There is much to contemplate and ponder. I…Nov 18, 2018Nov 18, 2018
On Reading “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” Chapter 10In Chapter 10, “Teaching as an Amusing Activity,” Postman looks at another area of social life that has been transformed by television —…Nov 17, 2018Nov 17, 2018
On Reading “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” Chapter 9In Chapter 9, “Reach Out and Elect Someone,” Postman turns his focus to politics. Although much of Postman’s attention throughout the book…Nov 16, 2018Nov 16, 2018
On Reading “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” Chapter 8After the apocalyptic Chapter 7, “Shuffle Off to Bethlehem” seems muted and narrow. Its argument is relatively simple: Religion too has…Nov 15, 2018Nov 15, 2018