Aloha!
With 2018 just around the corner, many of us use the start of the new year to look at everything anew! New goals, new outlooks, new perspectives!
And why not on our media as well?
New York Times bestseller, “The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media,” is both a fascinating and fun way to gain a whole objective look upon the mass media, the history of media, and the power this force has in our daily lives — for good and bad!
We discovered this book by way of a customer in our bookstore, and having read through it, we found it to be a very interesting book of what generally might seem to be either a daunting or boring subject!
Yet, somehow, Brooke Gladstone (radio host of “On the Media”) has made this densely-charged matter accessible to most everyone!
Given the visual nature of media, be it by print or video-screen, “The Influencing Machine” also uses the same medium by presenting the book in the form of a graphic novel (comic book-style for us lay folk!), which gives a very unique and fun way to take in what we are reading!
It was in this book which we first read that one of America’s greatest champions of the free and independent press, Thomas Jefferson, eventually, during his experience of being president, became suspicious of even hearing truth from the media, for fear it too might be wrong!
Many media issues are covered, such as bias, disclosure, and objectivity (or lack thereof)! And interestingly enough, this book was originally written in 2011, long before “fake news” was even a buzzword! Also understanding how and what our minds do with the information presented to us is rather incredible and eye-opening, too!
Always good to get perspective, right?
Happy New Year, everyone!
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Ed and Cynthia Justus are owners of The Bookstore in Hanapepe.
