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The News: A User's Manual |  |
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The News: A User's Manual | |
The News: A User’s Manual is an insightful analysis of the impact of the incessant news machine on us and our culture.
The news is everywhere. We can’t stop constantly checking it on our computer screens, but what is this doing to our minds? We are never taught how to make sense of the torrent of news we face daily, which has a huge influence on our sense of what matters and of how we should lead our lives. Alain de Botton takes twenty-five archetypal news stories—including an airplane crash, a murder, a celebrity interview, and a political scandal—and submits them to intense analysis. Why are disaster stories often so uplifting? Why do we enjoy watching politicians being brought down? Why are upheavals in far-off lands often so boring? What makes the love lives of celebrities so interesting? De Botton has written the ultimate guide for our frenzied era, designed to bring calm, understanding, and a measure of sanity to a news-obsessed age.
网友对The News: A User's Manual的评论
Reading De Botton is like visiting a monastery, the beautiful sentences flow gradually, the thoughtful and peaceful architecture of the book is revealed and the reader discovers all sorts of insights he never thought of. Having said this, I quickly add that I do not agree with many of De Botton's Utopian prescriptions for a more enlightening world of news. As long as he dissects why we spend so much time with the news, he is marvelous at revealing our foibles. When he becomes a philosopher who wishes that our daily ingestion of news serve to better us, to teach us the good life, to improve our awareness of the real world, his prescriptions are not good sociology. For example, when he suggests the news writer manipulate his material to make it more artistic and therefore more educative (page 82), he inadvertently tangos with a prescription for propaganda. So the central question of this review remains: should you read this book? By all means. De Botton is a very gifted writer, consequently you always learn from him. Like your visit to a marvelously preserved monastery, you may not want to take the vows, but the visit enriches you.
To date other Amazon reviewers have given either five-stars or one-star ratings. In my opinion tHis book is n,either great nor awful. It offers stimulating and timely comments about the news media, but fails (e.g.) to differentiate among sectors of the population with diverse intellectual capabilities, needs, and tastes. There is less than hoped for depth to the author's thinking. Often his policy prescriptions are shaped by a relatively (too) simple interpretation of human nature and its needs. In sum, two stars for depth of analysis, but more credit for selection/importance of the topics and writing style (fun to read). Major chapter headings are: politics, world news, economics, celebrity, disaster, and consumption.
I am greatly concerned (now even on PBS and National Public Radio) with the widespread emphasis on victims and villains, coupled with a sports mentality (win/lose, points gained, etc.) and agendas shaped by "if it bleeds it leads." Find a victim - preferably with a face or at least voice - apply ideology to identify the villain, and create the "story." Much of the "news" now is entertainment, evidently more profitable and/or popular than truly educational reporting. Much of the public seems to be getting exactly what they want, albeit trash in my estimation. How can we overcome this hurdle (that they are getting what they want)?
I have good news and I have bad news. The bad news is you'll come away wondering if you should ever believe anything you read in the news again. The good news is you'll be better prepared to interpret whatever news you choose to read. There are subjects De Botton covers where you'll probably find yourself saying, "Eh, I don't know about that," but overall he shows how the various sections of newspapers/magazines; e.g., political, business are designed to convey their message. One of the more interesting things to me personally was his statement that bias in reporting is not always a bad thing, that if you know the bias of a particular news organization, you can learn to interpret it and decide whether or not that bias is correct or not, depending on your own bias of course. <g>
Alain de Botton offers us again an innovative and amusing philosophical review of a current phenomenon, this time the impact of the news on our lives. He is very effective in analyzing our emotions and the unconscious forces that play in us when we expose ourselves to the news. He also takes the opportunity to analyze some fundamental facts about modern human life. This is the only philosopher that manages to make me laugh, with his well selected examples and style.
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