audiobook Building a Bridge to the 18th Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future by Neil Postman in History

Review

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. How the past can improve our futureBy Hiram ChanceNeil Postman; longtime professor and eventual chair of the department of culture and communication at New York University; sadly died in 2003 at the age of 72. Bridge is his final book; and it deals with the same universal themes found in his earlier 20-odd works: language; reason; education; childhood; and the idea of progress.Despairing over post-modernists who claim words don't stand for anything real; he makes a case for reading and writing. Indeed; he feels if we don't come up with a meaningful narrative for our world; we're toast.It is no accident; Postman is a huge fan of the two Thomases: Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine; particularly Paine.Note: Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense and The Crisis. Common Sense sold as many as 600;000 copies; which would be equivalent to a run of 60 million copies in the United States today.During the 18th century we were sewing the seeds for the end of monarchy and; eventually; slavery. Dr. Postman states that "men of the mind" in those heady days thought knowledge should be useful. Such Renaissance Men were known as philosophes; i.e. philosophers using their minds for great and just social causes.Now consider the modern era; and the so-called information revolution. The pervasive imagery of video and computer media work often to undercut the logical; serial narrative form of print. Reading; books in particular; requires active intellect; constantly evaluating statements; considering context; weighing consistencies; etc.Too often we succumb to the easier means of getting information... from perceptual streams of video images and sounds; serving to reinforce the perceptual-emotional method of awareness: "see something; have an immediate; often extreme emotion one way or the other."For example; a large number of Americans see footage of the World Trade Center towers falling and have an immediate animosity toward Arab men. Alternative explanations to the official story; no matter how logically unassailable; are simply blocked from consideration. A society relying on emotions bred from controlled media images is Orwellian... and doomed.Dr. Postman also has insightful observations on the loss of childhood to technology. He doesn't "rail against the machine;" so much as ask questions of the necessity of every shiny new thunderpig widget that comes along:"What is the problem to which the supersonic jet is the solution?" -- pg.43....For my complete review of this book and for other book and moviereviews; please visit my site [...]Brian WrightCopyright 20070 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Very worthwhile and timely as it will be for many years to come.By John A. LeraasPostman is not unknown to me. This is the third book of his I have read and delivered again.By discussing the ideas of the 18th century thinking about regarding various topics his builds a bridge from that time to ours. History is not dead. This was the century that really gave birth to our constitution; to our ideas about progress and; it turns out; about childhood.A basic tenant is that men and women need a narrative to live by; that the narrative of America came from the 18th century; that the narrative is endangered and that it should be revived.The discussions are far from obsolete and very applicable to our lives.Being a senior citizen; I studied the constitution in high school. My sons did not so I home schooled them on that subject as I considered it of high importance.I also appreciated his feelings toward computers as I share them.This is a very worthwhile book and is well recommended.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. For The Preacher Man; Humanists; Cultural Marxists; Feminists; and The Children. This is what we lost...By XDelThis Book Has it All! I can hear Postman repeating himself on these pages; and within pages of his other books; though at the same time; no two books are alike; and no two books are devoid of their own unique content; and further more; what is repeated should be repeated so as to drive what he is trying to communicate into our brains. And in doing so; Postman lives forever.If anyone has grown up feeling like everything is just a bit on the artificial side; ever felt that maybe much of what you know is a lie; or have you ever felt that everyone is crazy and that America has fallen from grace?This book explores that and I believe holds the answers; along with his other works such as the End of Education and Technopoly. And if not that; then they serve as a great narrative and a great appendix through which to conduct your own research.