Where’s Neil Postman when you need him?
I’m contemplating teaching Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death in my Introduction to Humanities class this semester, particularly Chapter 4 (“The Typographic Mind”). I don’t feel like scanning the chapter and I couldn’t find a pdf or doc online to use. Then it occurred to me that my students in all likelihood won’t read anything anyway, so why waste time scanning a document in the first place. I began to look for Sparknotes. I know, I’m bankrupt as an educator. At least I opted not to show the seventh grade history teacher’s youtube version of the Renaissance. I should get props for that.
Anyway, in my surfing, I ran into an amusing exchange on a forum. I don’t think the people involved were amused. I was, though, but in a depressing and ironic way. The exchange is started by a desperate student trying to locate a free copy of the book and the haters who accuse him of thievery, point him to the library, or recommend he ask a cute female classmate. My humanities class is secretly a class on media ecology and I am talking about issues of authorship, truth/knowledge, beauty, and representation as they shift and morph over time. I hope to trace the democratization of knowledge, art (or artifacting), and education, and how the democratization impulse is embedded in the notion of “the humanities.” I ran into this conversation shortly after comparing the text of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave to a Youtube animated version (an excellent rendering, by the way). I know my students won’t read Plato.
So envision the following rendered in a quasi-Platonic dialogue.
ovoleg
01-11-06, 11:24 AM
Can anyone please help me locate an online version of the book, “Amusing Ourselves to Death” by Neil Postman??
I will drop by the Barnes and Noble later tomorrow.
Please HELP me find a version of this book online :) :) :)
I love you long time!KingTermite
01-11-06, 12:02 PM
If this is a normal book you can buy in the book store, then what makes you think you can find a free online version?ovoleg
01-11-06, 12:03 PM
because you can find anything on the internet :)
Legal or not I don’t care at this point :Dperegrine
01-11-06, 12:17 PM
Go get it from a libraryovoleg
01-11-06, 12:20 PM
OMG come on guys
If I wanted to go t1o the library, I wouldn’t ask this question :)
ANYONE :)?Peregrine
01-11-06, 12:27 PM
And what’s wrong with going t1o the library?… *shakes head* Punks… :p :povoleg
01-11-06, 12:48 PM
OMG :)
I don’t mind going, except I do not have time. The book is only ~$10, I can easily afford it.
I was just hoping to read a few at work :)
But thanks guys, for your kind insults :(peregrine
01-11-06, 01:43 PM
:lol:
yeah, come on you guys, stop messing with ovoleg’s head!!ovoleg
01-11-06, 02:10 PM
so anyone know where I can find it??hi565
01-11-06, 02:42 PM
At a library or book store.
Its like someone in the TDF forum asking for a free burned copy of the 2003 TDF. \
Buy it. Its stupid not to.
If you do find it on the internet than in all honestly…Lame.ovoleg
01-11-06, 03:00 PM
Stupid not to?
care to explain?
Lame?
OMG, I know someone on here knows some site, I looked a bit and I don’t think people care enough about Neil to copy the book onlinehi565
01-11-06, 04:21 PM
Would you go into a store and take a loaf of bread and just walk out?
And if you want it that bad just hit up spark notes and read the summaries.ovoleg
01-11-06, 05:30 PM
That made no sense…
Walk in and take a loaf of bread? That is equivallent of me walking in and stealing the book…
How does that make any sense to what I was asking for initially? :rolleyes:
I already checked spark notes and they didn’t have the book listed :)
Thank you for your words of consciousness.sunninho
01-11-06, 05:48 PM
Is it for a class? Why don’t you hook up with a classmate, preferably female, and read along with her? :)ovoleg
01-11-06, 05:50 PM
no time :)
otherwise I would :D
In closing, I just want to say I care enough about Neil to copy him online. If you have read any of Postman’s writings, you will understand the irony of this sentiment.
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