My BLA group read "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman and hated every second of it. But I'll get back to that.
Postman's excruciatingly clear argument is that society has become too centered around the television and all public discourse now has a purpose that is, as least to some effect, to entertain. I suppose this book matters because it points out some of the flaws that come with all of the advances in technology. It warns us of the negative effects this "entertainment takeover" has. The actual writing was boring. Just dull and generally uninteresting. I fell asleep three times in the span of two pages while doing one week's reading. It was somewhat academic because the writer talked about the "research" he'd done (by watching countless hours of specific types of television programs), and he's pretty snarky, but definitely casual. He has an I'm-better-than-you kind of tone.
My recommendation would definitely be not to read it. If you really think you'd like to hear his message, you could probably go find a summary online that would tell you everything about this book in a page better than Postman could do in his whole book. Unless you're an old-timer who has an unfulfilled hatred towards today's society, misses "the good old days", and likes to shout "YOU ROTTEN KIDS" to anyone under 30, chances are you won't like this book. Sorry.
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