Josh Neufeld

Brooke Gladstone

The cohost of NPR's On the Media narrates, in cartoon form, two millennia of the influence of the media on the populace, from newspapers in Caesar's Rome to the penny press of the American Revolution to today. 30,000 first printing.

The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media

Maggie Gordon

The Influencing Machine is a fascinating journey through US news history, contextualising many modern complaints about the media, and showing how these are problems that have plagued the media for decades. It's a call to action about how people engage with the news, with a positive look at the way that technology is shifting how we absorb and access information. My one main criticism is that Gladstone did not engage with criticisms about capitalism and the media, specifically control over the media by a few, powerful companies. I know that many other sources deal with this problem, but Gladstone, rather than refer people elsewhere, was rather dismissive of the point. However, all in all, this is an informative, thought-provoking book for those interesting in some introductory media criticism.

Zubaer

Really good, quick and easy book, that's full of useful information about the media, objectivity in journalism, and other interesting topics. Definitely requires more than one read to absorb everything, so I'll probably revisit in a couple months.

Jay Carter

Outstanding. I knew that the answer to my questions about the media couldn't be as simple as "Fox News is the problem". The book presents past (from the first written languages through Rome and Gutenberg and presidential influence), present (scientific studies), and future (implants and the Singularity). It all comes down to how each of us individually takes responsibility for our participation in the media and the larger world. It's lovely that these ideas are told through the medium of comic books, possibly the most maligned and certainly one of the most difficult to pull off well when your protagonist is wearing normal clothing.

The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media

Reviews