About this title: Fairfax, Virginia, has the most extensive cable system in America. There are 103 channels. One day in May 1990, the author watched all 24 hours of these 103 channels, and what he saw and heard is a funny but frightening picture of American culture and information today.
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Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"This crazy author coerced 100 of his friends into taping the same 24-hour period on each of the 100 channels in his cable TV subscription. Then he watched ALL of the tapes, simply to compare it to what he learned by spending 24 hours camping by his favorite alpine lake. It's a satisfying read if you hate television."
"I kind of gathered what the author was going to say when he laid out his strategy toward the beginning of the book. After plowing through all of the TV examples, sprinkled with tid bits of outside beauty journals, the only conclusion I had in mind is what he led us to. So TV blindly misuses its power to deliver information by sending us mediocre, subpar, and damaging information, instead of useful information. If I had to sit through over 1000 hours of TV first and then spend 24 hours camping, I would hate TV too.
The endless cycle of the TV that spits up and pukes in our sensory receptors everyday almost compare to the endless cycle of bad TV examples followed by the tranquil romance of camping outdoor McKibben writes in this book. Right around noon time, I could guess what the whole day will entail. I really had to force myself through the book. McKibben's lecture, talking-down-to-you voice made it even harder. My suggestion for others who want to read this book is to start with the first 3 and then skip to about Midnight.
That said, thinking about the book outside of the experiment's constraints leads me to a different conclusion. The experiment pitted how the way things were versus where it is and/or it's going. It seems like McKibben struggles with the vast influx of information and "The Age of Missing Information" was his way to deal with it. Older generations, as they move on, have a hard time dealing with youth and the eventual ceremonious torch passing of control. This book sounds like the rebellious retort to the process. For me, I couldn't help but hear my Dad saying things like 'the world is coming to an end' after an unsuccessful attempt the get 'the email' and get on 'the internets.'"
"This guy tapes 24 hours of tv on every channel and then spends the next like year watching it all. It's pretty interesting and makes you realize what a sad state of being a lot of people are in."
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