Rushkoff, Douglas

Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They" Say

Average customer rating:

as enjoyable and scary as a thriller
Good, but not solid enough
Is persuasion coercive?
Scary.
Why we buy?

Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They" Say
Douglas Rushkoff
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 157322829X
Release Date: 2000-10-10

Amazon.com

In 1994's Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace, Douglas Rushkoff extolled the democratic promise of the then-emergent Internet, but the once optimistic author has grown a bit disillusioned with what the Net--and the rest of the world--has become. His exuberantly written, disturbing Coercion may induce paranoia in readers as it illuminates the countless ways marketing has insinuated itself not just into every aspect of Western culture but into our individual lives. Rushkoff opens with a series of pronouncements: "They say human beings use only ten percent of their brains.... They say Prozac alleviates depression." But "who, exactly, are 'they,'" he asks, and "why do we listen to them?"

Marketing continues to grow more aggressive, and Rushkoff tracks the increasingly coercive techniques it employs to ingrain its message in the minds of consumers, as well as the results: toddlers can recognize the golden arches of McDonald's, young rebels get tattooed with the Nike swoosh, and news stories are increasingly taken verbatim from company press releases. "Corporations and consumers are in a coercive arms race," argues Rushkoff. "Every effort we make to regain authority over our actions is met by an even greater effort to usurp it." As he surveys the visual, aural, and scented shopping environment and interviews salesmen, public relations men, telemarketers, admen, and consumers, Rushkoff--who admits to being one of "them" in his occasional capacity as paid corporate consultant--concludes that "they" are just "us" and that the only way the process of coercion can be reversed is to refuse to comply. "Without us," he assures, "they don't exist." --Kera Bolonik

Book Description

Noted media pundit Douglas Rushkoff gives a devastating critique of the influence techniques behind our culture of rampant consumerism. With a skilled analysis of how experts in the fields of marketing, advertising, retail atmospherics, and hand-selling attempt to take away our ability to make rational decisions, Rushkoff delivers a bracing account of why we buy what we buy, and helps us recognize when we're being treated like consumers instead of human beings.

Customer Reviews:

as enjoyable and scary as a thriller.......2007-02-11

This is the most enjoyable and frightening book I've read about various forms of thought control in everyday life. Rushkoff explores and compares phenomena like cults, MLM schemes like Amway, neuro-linguistic programming, shopping mall design, and used car salesman training -- which features a script almost identical to the one in a CIA interrogation manual obtained through the freedom of information act. I recommend this book to everyone, as it treats things that we all face, but I think it's an essential read for anyone interested in cults and mind control.

Good, but not solid enough .......2006-10-29

I've bought the book after reading on Key23 that it is "The best book on black magic written by someone who does not practice it." Meaning that the usage of language, icons, and space to influnce people by bypassing their rational, subjective mind is almost like magic and should be known to anyone living in the modern world where we are always exposed to various forms of influence. As Jello Biafra once said: "It's odd how many people I knew while growing up don't remember anything important that happened politicaly or socially, BUT if I hum a radio commercial no one heared for 10 years - BAM! They remember THAT!"

While the book is a great deal of fun to read (The saleman's character is wonderful, as well as the parts about how music is used to effect shopping behaviour, "the bum-brush effect", and the usage of scent in the air vents to effect Japanese workers.) I felt it does not follow through on many of it's promising leads. To say that office designers use ancient Chinese space-arranging techniques to influnce others is well and good. But DOES it? If so, HOW? Where the writer might have brought in a second opinion on the social fads around "Spirituall Things" or even on why the brain is wired this way the reader is gently lead on to see THIS wonderful bit of info and hear THIS person who watches the tapes that record our shopping behaviour and writes ideas on how we can be influnced to buy more or faster. That person IS interesting (Haven't you ever wondered what they do with these tapes?:) But there is little scholarship in it. In 2006, to say that big companies mind-bend their clients is not much of a novelty.

HOWEVER, for curious people with an intrest in the world around them, this book is one of the nicest bargains out there.

Sam Green

PS
For all wondering, the "Bum-Brush" effect is this. When women bend over to look at a product they will STOP and GET UP if they feel someone or something is brushing their bum. Even if it's a hand bag or a person walking next to them. Once they are up they may NOT BUY the product. To prevent this from happening store owners are making bigger passages to prevent the bum brush. This took many hours of tape watching to formalize:)

Is persuasion coercive?.......2006-09-14

If you have been a Chomsky fan ever since you read "Manufacturing Consent" then you may like this book- if you ignore the sloppy reasoning, and unsupported conclusions.

The author's thesis seems to be that persuasive techniques (political and commercial, but mostly commercial) are so effective that the targets of these persuasions essentially lose the ability to resist.

As others have pointed out, definitions of "coercion" almost always include the phrase "force, or credible threat of force." Yet, even the slimiest car dealership is not going to beat you up if you refuse to buy the car. Indeed, this would be a far better book if the author at least considered the possibility that the dealership needs customers far more than any customer could possibly need any particular car dealer: after all, a dealer who can't sell enough cars will suffer large losses and go out of business, but a customer who walks to another car seller will lose- perhaps an hour or two.

In short, unless you can accept the book's thesis- that people lose their ability to resist in the face of these powerful persuasions- the book makes no sense. Which would be acceptable if only the author would provide evidence to support his thesis- but, he doesn't. As the old saying has it, "evidence" is not the plural of "anecdote."

Are Promise Keepers rallies truly Hitlerian (as the author implies), or (at most) just mildly annoying? Is it truly coercion when a chain-store salesperson tries to sell you additional stuff that you really didn't want and probably don't need, or is it just mildly aggravating? Is Rushkoff's attempt to convince you that ordinary, everyday politics and commercialism are coercive itself coercive and cult-like (by its own definitions)- or is it, too, just mildly annoying?

Scary. .......2004-09-11

This is one of those books that is at once fascinating, horrifying, thought-provoking, and makes me want to have nothing to do with advertising. It covers all kinds of methods people use to coerce others, from car salespeople to marketers and copywriters. An interesting read.

Why we buy?.......2004-05-13

I was wondering why I bought this tape. Well, it was because Walgreen's had a bunch of bargain tapes prominently featured in their store, and the music playing had a subliminal message that said buy me. Seriously, Rushkoff does a good job of detailing how people are influenced to buy a product, subscribe to a belief, or follow a messianic leader.
I think Rushkoff is suspious of all people or companies trying to sell a product. However, in most cases, he details how Western style societies have been influenced by consumerism, and how companies have refined their selling habits to sell their services and products. Rushkoff does not just stop at the selling of products. He talks about why people join and stay in cults, why people follow political leaders, the effects of the worldwide web and internet on people, and pyramid schemes. In modern marketing, as well as these, people are coerced in subscribing to alien beliefs or products. This is why people need to understand these principles in order to avoid the damage of coercion on their person.
The book is relatively interesting. A good book for those interested in the decision making process of the Western consumer.

We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind

Average customer rating:

Incoherent and unreadable
A simplified (and conspiracy-based) book on PR
A first-rate gem of a book
Eye opening must read for the everyday consumer
Regurgitated PR material from business intelligence companies

We Know What You Want: How They Change Your Mind
Martin Howard , and Douglas. Coercion Rushkoff
Manufacturer: Disinformation Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They" Say
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ASIN: 1932857052

Book Description

In this handbook for locating the hidden sales messages that bombard us everyday, Martin Howard explains the new techniques that corporations are using to make subconscious approaches without your consent. It covers the five major zones where consumers are being confronted: in the retail shopping context, at major events and concerts, through information media, personal friendships, and your computer.

Up until recently, there was a social contract that alerted consumers to advertising messages. They were clearly labeled, endorsements were obvious and certain areas were off-limits. That contract has been broken, and many corporations are resorting to underhanded methods to persuade.

Our shopping centers, stadiums, telephones, friendships and editorials are all "fair game." Marketing messages have crossed into the social sphere.

We Know What You Want points out dozens of examples of how these signals are being relayed and gives you the tools and techniques to decode these messages and make your own decisions.

Inspired by the popular book Coercion by Douglas Rushkoff, this book presents key ideas and case examples in a practical, easy-to-follow, illustrated format. Rushkoff himself contributes the Introduction. We Know What You Want has Rushkoff's full support; he calls it "an entertaining yet McLuhanesque 'Medium is the Message,' filled with engaging graphics and provocative but easy-to-follow guidelines for maintaining autonomy in a world made of marketing."

Martin Howard has spent over 15 years in the marketing field with over 10 of them in advertising agencies. While witnessing the decline of the traditional advertising agency, he became interested in emerging forms of communication and stumbled upon the writings of Marshall McLuhan and others, who charted the profound but underestimated impact of electronic media. Now a strong advocate for media literacy, his interest is in making these theories accessible to average consumers and students. He lives in Brisbane, Australia.

Customer Reviews:

Incoherent and unreadable.......2007-05-26

This isn't a "book" in the sense of something you can sit down and read in a coherent fashion. Rather it is a collection of quotes, quips, "fun facts" and anecdotes which looks like it was put together by an incompetent graphic artist. The material centers loosely on the theme of "they're out to brainwash you," but the content is so sloppily presented that it's hard to be anything but confused by it. This one is going back to Amazon, and then hopefully into the trash heap where it belongs. GIANT WASTE OF MONEY!!

A simplified (and conspiracy-based) book on PR.......2007-02-11

OK. So we wrap advertising, news, public relations and public relations into one book to whow how THEY try to influence you how to think. Well, if it's big news that governments wait to release bad infor when it will have a minimal impact then you probably weren't paying attention to start out. The author has some very good points about "junk news" (which I agree with) but the fact is we have a market-driven economy. If you don't like U.S. news networks, with their entertainment and rubbish stories, then watch BBC news, which is available as part of most cable packages. The fact that most Americans don't might say something about our tastes in programming but what can you do about that?

If you're serious about learning about how PR works and aren't staring at your TV screen looking for product placements on Star Trek The Next Generation episodes then there are better books out there. Not as flashily packaged, interestingly enough, but they're out there.

A first-rate gem of a book.......2006-10-30

The marketers and public relations firms of this world are constantly improving the myriad of ways they have to get inside your head and manipulate you to their way of thinking. This book looks at some of them.

Today's supermarkets intentionally place popular items, like milk and bread, as far from the entrance as possible. That way, the shopper must pass all those impulse items at the end of each aisle. Also, they are subjected to muzak tracks that will cause them to ignore their shopping lists and stay longer. Have you ever heard of the Gruen Transfer? It describes the moment when a shopper loses control of the decision-making process, characterized by suggestibility and glazed eyes. It is at this time that a shopper is most likely to make an unplanned purchase.

At the local sports stadium, is there any surface, except for the player's uniforms and the field itself, that doesn't have a corporate logo? You have probably seen Video News Releases, slick corporate promotions and government messages designed to look like news, even if you have never heard of them. The book also looks at how to engineer public opinion, through front groups, paid experts and targeted messages.

Ebay has said that will ignore their own privacy policy if law enforcement is looking for information on a specific person, and hand over that information without a court order. Everyone is familiar with cookies, spam and spyware on your computer. Not everyone knows that Kazaa software embeds extra, hard-to-find, programs on your computer. They send information on your viewing habits to third-party servers. Advertising and subliminal messages are among the newest trends in computer games. This book also includes a list of actual patents for inventions that involve "regulated subconscious behavioral control by invisible means."

This is a first-rate gem of a book. It is really easy to read. While some might consider the information in this book common knowledge, it is still a rather spooky look at how well They have gotten inside our heads. It is very much recommended.

Eye opening must read for the everyday consumer.......2006-09-26

I would not allow people go into any shop without this book.
Just one fact: 60% of consumer decisions are made inside the store.
There are tons and tons of other information what was new to me. For example what effect does a mass have on you, if you stay in the midst of them?
How can you be manipulated by music?
I've even ordered two of this book to my friends.
Must to read.

Regurgitated PR material from business intelligence companies.......2006-03-07

First of all, the book's not written by Douglas Rushkoff. He only wrote the foreward.

The book doesn't have a lot of useful content. It mostly lists supposed marketing innovations and data mining techniques with large neon graphics (like WIRED magazine circa 1999) and minimal analysis. Its aim seems only to scare you in a conspiratorial tone: you are being watched! your every move is being analyzed!

Too bad it accepts the claims of the companies trying to market these surveillance and date mining systems at face value. Without finding out whether they actually work, you are likely just scaring yourself for no reason.

Testament Vol. 2: West of Eden (Testament)

Average customer rating:

Testament Vol. 2: West of Eden (Testament)
Douglas Rushkoff
Manufacturer: Vertigo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1401212018

Book Description

From the imagination of best-selling author Douglas Rushkoff, one of the most icono-clastic and acclaimed minds of our era, comes a graphic novel series that exposes the "real" Bible as it was actually written, and reveals how its mythic tales are repeated today.

Book Description

From the imagination of best-selling author Douglas Rushkoff, one of the most iconoclastic and acclaimed minds of our era, comes a graphic novel series that exposes the "real" Bible as it was actually written, and reveals how its mythic tales are repeated today.

Grad student Jake Stern leads an underground band of renegades that uses any means necessary to combat the frightening threats to freedom that permeate the world. They employ technology, alchemy, media hacking and mysticism to fight a modern threat that has its roots in ancient stories destined to recur in the modern age.

Customer Reviews:

Innovative and yet not quite awesome........2007-02-13

Testament feels good. You end up knowing the take is different than anything you've read. It's propositive and gets you thinking about new ways to handle the myth. However, it fails to close completely. It's like it's a great concept behind, but the implementation is somewhat not as good. The storytelling is good, but characters aren't so fleshed out.

In other words, read it, though it could've been much more polished.

Haven't seen the second part, maybe it shouldn't be split.

good job.......2007-01-21

good job on the sending of the book. sorry for the late review!

Worth Checking Out........2006-12-11

The Good: Intellectually challenging, and very intriguing. I really want to read more and find out what where this story is going. The writing is definitely literate. The art is excellent as well.

The Bad: It feels too much like the first third of a story. Primarily set up. Which is perfectly fine, since it's a collection of an ongoing comic book. However, after reading the entire thing there were more questions than answers, and my concern is that it might be unsatisfactory and turn off readers. It was kind of confusing. If I didn't know the Bible stories, I would be even more confused. The premise requires that you be familiar with the background material to begin with, and the hard balance is not having too much exposition to compensate. It's definitely high concept.

The Bottom Line: Ultimately, the question is, is it entertaining? I would say yes, so I definitely recommend this new book from Vertigo and hope that you would support this book as well. If it gets the chance to continue, I think the payoff will be well worth it.

Check It Out, this changes everything..........2006-09-12

"the most assured and original project to emerge from Vertigo since SANDMAN." - Comic Buyer's Guide

"Make no mistake, The Greatest Story Ever Told continues right here?" - Grant Morrison

"A stunning, richly entertaining book!" - Robert Anton Wilson, co-author "The Illuminatus! Trilogy"

"Rushkoff is one of the great thinkers - and writers - of our time!" - Timothy Leary

"Impossible to put down... chock full of cool, forward-looking ideas. Grade: A" - VARIETY.COM

"Intriguing! Well worth the time to check out." - AIN'T IT COOL NEWS

Testament is a book about Humanity and Gods and the struggle between Evil and Good. The book moves seamlessly between three different times and planes of existence, which are Modern Present time (but it is set slightly in the future), Past Historical Biblical time, and the supernatural Realm of the Gods.

In the modern/future present time there are three major events taking place. One being the fact that the government requires that people have computer chips implanted in their bodies. The second is the emergence of artificial intelligence that has been created by a computer scientist but unfortunately has escaped from his computer into the Internet. The third event is a major corporation is beginning a move to usurp power by changing currency/money into a new very different form that I don't believe has been revealed yet but it sounds very spooky.

So basically there are college aged radicals who have refused to have the chips implanted and are living outside the law. One of these is the son of the creator of the computer chips, who when creating them had no notion that the government would actually use the chips beyond what he or most others believed was acceptable in a way I'll just say reminiscent of the Kent State Massacre on May 4 1970.

So what is taking place in the present events is a reflection of what had taken place in the Bible. Rushkoff does a few things here that I feel need mentioning, he shows us stories from the Bible but he doesn't either show them as or disregard their being sacred events, obviously he believes they are important because they are illustrations of the Gods attempts to influence humanity, but he tells both the modern and those past in a way that makes them both entertainingly modern, relevant, and human.

Basically the story jumps back and forth between what is happening "Now" and what happened in the Bible. Instead of Just God and Satan Rushkoff has Krishna the Hindu God on the side of good along with the Christian God or more specifically the Jewish God (because the comic only has to do with the old testament) and the Evil Gods I think are Egyptian, Hindu and third is Jewish. Like every character in the story the Gods are thankfully multidimensional that is to say they don't come across as 100 percent pure good or pure evil.

Douglas Rushkoff, uniquely qualified to write such a book, outside of comics might be consider a Futurist or a Media Guru, at least an expert on such topics in addition to Judaism, which he wrote a book on called "Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism" I've seen him on panels on CNN and speaking at Disinformation counterculture conferences, he is a what most would considered a modern day Renaissance Man. He writes books on Ecstasy eating Ravers, advises the United Nations, plays keyboards in the radical group Psychic TV, and writes comic books.

A Great story that makes one think about what these stories may actually be and makes one question what is the current real world's spiritual significance.

My review is based on the first 9 issues I've read only once but am looking forward to rereading them again.

Average customer rating:

Nasty and Profane
What was he reading?
Engaging read, even for the non-theologically inclined.
Worthless
Not a very thoughtful work

Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism
Douglas Rushkoff
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1400051398
Release Date: 2004-03-23

Amazon.com

Judaism is in danger of compromising the core values which have made this religion so resilient and enduring through the millenniums, according to author and NPR commentator Douglas Rushkoff. The strength and longevity of Judaism lies in its original values—iconoclasm, media literacy, its ability to encourage inquiry instead of obedience. But Rushkoff argues that these values have become dangerously compromised to the point where Judaism is now more concerned with adherence to a righteous path and unquestioning assimilation. Unless the Jewish community restores its emphasis on "inquiry over certainty and fluidity over sanctity," he believes it will be impossible to reach the numerous disaffected Jews who are struggling with the intense and sometimes terrifying challenges of modern life.

As a media watchdog and social commentator, Rushkoff (Coercion: Why We Listen to What They Say) is especially attuned to the negative affects of globalization and media technologies. One of his main gripes is that Judaism is starting to function more like a global corporation. For instance, instead of challenging the market culture's influence over children, "Jewish outreach groups are hiring trend watchers to help them market Judaism to younger audiences," he writes. The good news, notes Rushkoff, is that Judaism also has a "Renaissance Tradition," in which it has faced similar crises in the past and successfully reorganized itself according to its original tenets. He sees the potential for such a Renaissance now, and even offers ideas on how this could come about. With its inflammatory premise and hard hitting message, this book is destined to stir enormous controversy and, ironically, a good deal of inquiry and debate within the Jewish community. --Gail Hudson

Book Description

Acclaimed writer and thinker Douglas Rushkoff, author of Ecstasy Club and Coercion, has written perhaps the most important—and controversial—book on Judaism in a generation. As the religion stands on the brink of becoming irrelevant to the very people who look to it for answers, Nothing Sacred takes aim at its problems and offers startling and clearheaded solutions based on Judaism’s core values and teachings.

Disaffected by their synagogues’ emphasis on self-preservation and obsession with intermarriage, most Jews looking for an intelligent inquiry into the nature of spirituality have turned elsewhere, or nowhere. Meanwhile, faced with the chaos of modern life, returnees run back to Judaism with a blind and desperate faith and are quickly absorbed by outreach organizations that—in return for money—offer compelling evidence that God exists, that the Jews are, indeed, the Lord’s “chosen people,” and that those who adhere to this righteous path will never have to ask themselves another difficult question again.

Ironically, the texts and practices making up Judaism were designed to avoid just such a scenario. Jewish tradition stresses transparency, open-ended inquiry, assimilation of the foreign, and a commitment to conscious living. Judaism invites inquiry and change. It is an “open source” tradition—one born out of revolution, committed to evolution, and willing to undergo renaissance at a moment’s notice. But, unfortunately, some of the very institutions created to protect the religion and its people are now suffocating them.

If the Jewish tradition is actually one of participation in the greater culture, a willingness to wrestle with sacred beliefs, and a refusal to submit blindly to icons that just don’t make sense to us, then the “lapsed” Jews may truly be our most promising members. Why won’t they engage with the synagogue, and how can they be made to feel more welcome?

Nothing Sacred is a bold and brilliant book, attempting to do nothing less than tear down our often false preconceptions about Judaism and build in their place a religion made relevant for the future.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Nasty and Profane.......2006-08-22

This is a horrible book written from a very nasty point of view. Basically, this is a systematic dismantling of everything sacred about Judaism - to the point where the author actually uses the sacred name of God in the book. Obviously, the author knew that his use of the name of God would deeply insult those devoutly Jewish, and just as obviously, the author did not care if he insults deeply held beliefs.

It's important to understand that this is coming from a man that feels that what is now Israel will soon no longer exist as the Jewish homeland - and he demonstrates absolutely no concern for that, either.

No concern for the basics of the Jewish religion, disdain for the Jewish homeland, and disdain for the future of the Jewish race. Anti-religion, Anti-Judaism, Anti-Israel. There's a word for that.

What was he reading?.......2006-07-18

Mr. Rushkoff...what were you reading? The view you hold of the Scriptures, of Kadosh texts founded on revelation, and study..The Torah--the Navim - the Writings- seems to be another one than we have had as a people for these thousands of years.
I can not recommend this book!

Engaging read, even for the non-theologically inclined........2005-04-29

One of my oldest friends is a practicing Jew, despite being an Atheist. Judaism to him is a set of cultural practices handed down and revered from generation to generation--much like High School football in West Texas. He suggested, very strongly, that I read this book.

I knew I had to read it when I realized that the Amazon reviews of this book primarily boiled down to two types:

"LIES, LIES, LIES. (Even though the only lies I can point out are in intellectual details, not the core substance of his book.)"

"THIS BOOK OPENED MY EYES. I CAN'T BELIEVE A BOOK ON RELIGION IS SUCH A PAGETURNER."

While Rushkoff's work has a few flaws that I noticed, and probably a few more I didn't, this book is a very, very strong critique of not only modern Judaism, but of religious traditionalism in general.

While I disagree somewhat with his state intent and the leap he makes from his critique to get to his conclusion, he writes a very compelling case against what is held as established Jewish tradition. Many of the spears of hypocrisy that people throw at the religious right are melted down and reformulated into bullets which Rushkoff shoots at modern Judaism with alarming ease and accuracy.

His core point is that modern Judaism is in crisis. Essentially, his largest criticism is that Judaism is more about the preservation of traditions and the concept of a "chosen race" than it is about the preservation of faith. It is more about ensuring intermarriage and raising Jewish families than it is about understanding or debating the core precepts of Jewish faith.

While I believe he diverts slightly from what I picked out as his core point, the book is nonetheless an enlightening read from any standpoint of the situation. The book is has funny moments, heavy moments, and is quite the page turner for a non-fiction work. He writes in an engaging, anecdotal style that is clearly intended for a younger, more cosmopolitan audience.

What he presents is not something I can reformulate here, but think of all the books you've read that really angered or enlightened you. Why did they anger you? Why did they enlighten you? If you can see why the books that enlightened you seriously angered others, then you'll understand why this book is very meaningfully powerful and controversial.

Worthless.......2005-03-14

It is ironic, Nothing Sacred : The Truth About Judaism is nothing but lies.

Rushkoff's understanding of Judaism and scripture is hugely limited and flawed. Not sure what his point is, save to say it is quite wron

Not a very thoughtful work.......2005-02-28

This is a puzzling book. It seems to be addressed to Jews in general. But it doesn't appear to have much advice for most of them. Of course, Rushkoff is completely free to follow whatever religious views he pleases. The question is whether this book has much to offer anyone, Jewish or non-Jewish.

Rushkoff traces the history of Judaism, a religion he appears to feel is not quite monotheistic enough! Let's just say that I would not have thought of this criticism. He then deals with the question of whether Jews are a race or whether they are simply individuals who follow Judaism as an idea. Well, that is a good question. Perhaps Jews ought to be more active in seeking converts. But I think this exaggerates reality: plenty of people convert to Judaism.

Another problem with the claim of Judaism simply being a collection of individuals is this: denial of rights to Jews is an attack on not only specific individuals, but also on the Hebrew-speaking people as well as on human rights in general. It does no good to pretend that there is no such thing as homo sapiens, or no such thing as the Hebrew-speaking people.

Well, what does the author think of Zionism? It's too religious for him! Had Zionism only been secular, it would have worked!

With all due respect to the author, this is totally preposterous. A typical early kibbutz was about the most secular community one could have imagined. Attacks on Zionism have generally been due to the secularism of the Zionists. Even religious attacks on Zionism would not be mitigated were the Zionists all to assure everyone of their secularism! Zionists do insist on rights to life, liberty, and property. But this is true for both religious and secular Zionists. Were all Zionists secular, they would still demand their rights.

I'm sure the author means well. But I do not recommend this book to anyone.

Average customer rating:

Ineffectiously Infectious
If media is a pathogen then intelligence is the immunogen.
McLuhan for the 21st Century
There IS Real Life!
Poorly written, blurry thinking, and irrelevant

Media Virus!
Douglas Rushkoff
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Media Studies | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Futurology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0345397746
Release Date: 1996-02-06

Amazon.com

Have you ever noticed that the word "media" refers both to the tool for disseminating information in human societies as well as the substrate upon which geneticists grow bacteria and viruses? Rushkoff has written one of the more provocative and insightful analyses of the paths of conceptual infection in human media, and about the techniques and goals of those who spread media viruses. This fun, hip, yet insightful book is well worth buying.

Book Description

The most virulent viruses today are composed of information. In this information-driven age, the easiest way to manipulate the culture is through the media. A hip and caustically humorous McLuhan for the '90s, culture watcher Douglas Rushkoff now offers a fascinating expose of media manipulation in today's age of instant information.

Customer Reviews:

Ineffectiously Infectious.......2006-11-15

This book tries to explain how and why the media would try to send out its ideals to the masses through a selective exposé of certain television programs such as THE SIMPSONS, BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD, REN & STIMPY SHOW, MURPHY BROWN, LA LAW, COPS; political and celebrity personalities like the BUSH's, BILL CLINTON, WILLIAM BORROUGHS, PHIL DONAHUE, RUSH LIMBOUGH, PEEWEE HERMAN (Paul Reubens), THE JACKSONS, MADONNA, ICE T, and even quite peculiar for me even the whole controversy with one of my personal faves U2 over the legal frictions with a parody band called NEGATIVLAND (which is rather more documented on the documentary feature flick of the said group) and even more so about the band that I often refer to - JESUS JONES regarding their music video for their perrenial track "Right Here Right Now" and the advent of MTV's outbreak with the likes of music videos from A-HA; BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN; and even more so mentioning the likes of `wanna-whats' like R.U. SERIOUS, and the cult of Genesis P-Orrige called THEE TEMPLE OV PSYCHIC YOUTH - the book nearly gives an impression that the author is culture-shocked, and proposed to infect likewise with the `memes' (ie. A term used by the author to refer about the certain data/info's that are being assimilated n=by the media which in turn affects to influence the masses, at least in the way I understood it and could simply put it) it presents to expose - however, the whole matter is subject to the particular perspective preference of the readers personal comprehension.

The book is said to have been "revised and updated" from a two-year's span by 1996 - even seems quite un-innovative even from that time, and most of the authors' analysis are nothing new. Rushkoff, although being quite informative nevertheless from time to time with the book only seem to mainly dwell on a surface level, when what we need is to see more of the primal motivating factors behind the dissemination of counter-culture trends and ideas which Rushkoff attempted to disseminate within the length of his work.

If media is a pathogen then intelligence is the immunogen........2006-11-14

Ten years since I read Media Virus I still find it extremely relevant, actually even more so. I first read it out of curiosity - being a Simpson's and Beavis and Butthead fanatic. I now find myself perusing a marketing degree and some of Rushkoff's theories and now common place. Just a couple months ago, a Wal-Mart sponsored marketing firm was outed as the creators of a phoney online discussion group (gorilla marketing/propaganda) or as Rushkoff would have described it "genetic engineering" (turning a beast into a concerned citizen).

When media virus was written there wasn't much of an Internet (as we know it) but the same ideas were in place. It some ways Rushkoff is a futurist in the line of Faith Popcorn or Ryan Mathews. Instead of offering predictions, Rushkoff leans toward merely understanding the psychological or anthropological side of media - the tools of futurists.

I strongly suggest any one who reads this book to watch Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent and vice versa.

McLuhan for the 21st Century.......2004-07-28

The bizarre negative reviews in this space belong to a couple of "conspiracy theorists" who are writing bad reviews of everyone associated with the Disinformation web site.

It's a shame, because this is probably Rushkoff's best book - at least his most important one. It put him on the map as today's most significant media theorist, while being simple enough for pretty much anyone to understand.

The point of the book is that seemingly innocuous or culturally insignificant media nonetheless contain the most pressing ideas and constructs of a given age. So Rushkoff deconstructs media iconography from Beavis and Butt-head to Michael Jackson, showing the underlying cultural agenda beneath them - not beneath them, but within them.

If the book seems unoriginal now, some ten years after it was first published, that's because this is the book that LAUNCHED these ideas. Ever hear of "viral marketing"? That came from this guy.

Look at his documentary on the Frontline website called "The Merchants of Cool" if you want to see how his thinking developed, and got a bit cooler on these developments.

But definitely read Media Virus if you want to understand all the thinking and advertising that came from it.

There IS Real Life!.......2003-08-11

I follow the adventures of this young man in the realm of literature for some years now and had the opportunity to exchange some e-mails with him due to my quite provocative position on his Bull (the on-line novel) idea.

This is to warn you that this review might not be the most objective one!!!!

So much I have heard about Media Virus" that, after falling in love with Rushkoff`s Children of Chaos" and enjoying Coercion", suffering through Cyberia" and Ecstasy Club" (see my review) and short affair in the bus with Bull" (printed version) I felt an urge to complete my studies in Ruskhoff by getting hands on GenX Reader" and Media Virus".

And the result is dissapointing.

Media Virus is the collection of couple of deliberations of the proud member of TV nation about his daily bread: TV (sitcoms, shows and characters, including infamous American TV politics). The only common denominators of said deliberations are
a) quite useful metaphor of viruses (it works most of the time and we shall give credit to the author for that at least) and
b) the passion and pride Mr. Rushkoff has for GenXers and their (or ours, shall I say) ability to digest, analyse and take use of any electronic medium and stand high doses of television [garbage].

So much for pros, compagneros.

As for cons, my first problem is that this work has no structure and ends like a newspaper article, with some small deliberation over point of view of apparently strange person with (within the given context of his deviant opinions of world) quite normal name Genesis P-Orridge). BTW, in an attempt to collect at least some sympathies for the devil, author, while introducing said figure, tell us that Genesis has to live outside UK for being persecuted there for his worldviews (later we read that the guy has some sadomasochistic tendencies and tendency to share them via video with others...). I do not know, but if our generation needs hero authors, we should look for someone like Solzhenitsyn or Voinovich maybe...

Second, it is poorly researched...Well, frankly, there is no research behind the book whatsoever... Two or three quotations of McLuhan, something on the top of it, rest is what Douglas saw in telly... Scary...

One thing that seems like funny to me, after what I have read by this author, is his apparently unlimited ability to analyse" any piece of TV [garbage] from most unbelievable and unseen angles and within most strange context, this all using quasi-scientific jargon and methods of explanation.

If you want to see Mr. Rushkoff in his best, try to ignore his first books (including this one) and jump right into his recent writings. As he wrote, GenX lives without history and we shall look at his work from the same position...

Still, I believe, there is culture that is popular (although free from hidden agendas:-)), some art that is being created just to share the beautiful with others, that there is some music being composed in an effort to reach out for the divine
and finally,
that there is life to live even if you do not have the high-end television set and 155 channels to surf.

Poorly written, blurry thinking, and irrelevant.......2002-12-08

The best Rushkoff can do in this slapdash book is to rehash some old ideas about media and provide little support for his hasty and superficial analyses. The concept that ideas evolve and are transmitted through media is unoriginal and has been with us for years: Rushkoff repackages this well understood idea using refernces to "memes," which simply recasts these older concepts using the cloak of biological metaphors (ideas being transmitted as viruses, spreading a kind of idea "DNA," etc.) . Such a metaphor --which was originated by other theorists -- would be useful only if it could be used to predict the success or failure of particular paradigms and the degree and rate at which they might spread -- but no such logical, helpful, or meaningful exploration of the metaphorical device is to be found in this book. Furthermore, Rushkoff supports his ill- ormed conclusions -- they come off as though from a guy verbally riffing on a hunch on his couch -- you know that guy who got stoned at a party and just spouted some ideas off the top of his head? -- and failing to support them or investigate them in any convincing manner. He uses examples from popular culture that seem drawn rather arbitrarily from the media ether, and many of his examples are based upon "facts" about these items of popular culture which are simply wrong. There's a reference to the Batman comic books, I believe, where Rushkoff misstates the action in the book or comic to support his point, and gets the facts wrong. The result is that he actually undermines his conclusions and demonstrates their shallowness. Overrated by others, perhaps because so many people understand so little about the media, or are eager to find a guru of the modern technological age. Rushkoff is not that guy and this book shows it.

Get Back in the Box: How Being Great at What You Do Is Great for Business

Average customer rating:

A paradigm shifter
Great Wake-Up Call
Great scope and depth
Interesting new perspective on creativity and innovation
It should be titled "Get off the sphere"

Get Back in the Box: How Being Great at What You Do Is Great for Business
Douglas Rushkoff
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0060758708
Release Date: 2007-01-30

Book Description

Although for years experts have been exhorting the value of "thinking outside the box," Douglas Rushkoff argues that it is distracting too many businesses from what they do best. Having for too long replaced innovation with acquisitions and ad campaigns, many businesses have lost touch with the process—and fun—of discovery. Indeed, for all their talk about innovation, most companies today are still scared to death of it. By returning to their core competencies, companies can offer their employees and customers alike the "social currency" they need to create value, meaning, and fun for one another. With intriguing examples—from the dumbwaiter and open source to Volkswagen and the Gap—Rushkoff shows how we can make business more meaningful and profitable by "getting back in the box."

Customer Reviews:

A paradigm shifter.......2007-04-27

A great book. Reading this was like a breath of fresh air and really changed my thinking about technology, innovation, design and the hope for creating a livable world.

Great Wake-Up Call.......2007-04-02

One of the best books on taking an outside look into how we do business, live and experience the world as people, not just consumers.Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out

Great scope and depth.......2007-03-16

I have read tons of books on business practice and ethos. Rushkoff brought a great mix of theory and practical examples that are working in the real world of business. This book is the business version of "positive psychology", which advises that we develop our strengths and most problems will self correct. In this case it is, pursue your deepest values and you won't have to spend all your resources on marketing. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is involved in an organization at any level. I am a pastor of a church and it has provided many thought provoking concepts to explore in our context.

Interesting new perspective on creativity and innovation.......2007-02-25

I'll admit, it took me awhile to really get into this book. Once I got through the first couple of chapters of "Get Back in the Box" though, I couldn't wait to read more of it.

The author, Douglas Rushkoff, feels that we're in the midst of a renaissance in creativity and collaboration. As he puts it, "genuine creativity is a result not of out-of-the-box thinking, but of true expertise." Here's a great example he used partway through the book: The person that decided (years ago) to put a VCR and TV into one device wasn't really innovating. The person who came up with TiVo, on the other hand, was a genius and someone who truly had a handle on people's viewing habits.

He's got an entire chapter on what he refers to as "social currency." The retailers featured as noteworthy examples in this chapter include B&N ("the store is a social hub"), Guitar Center ("it's a place to try out pretty much any piece of musical instrument there is--and to play on it for hours") and the Apple Store (described as "a little cathedral"). I tend to think Starbucks fits the mold as well. In fact, this chapter got me wondering about what would happen if Starbucks and Apple ever decided to create some co-branded shops...

Here are a few of the other interesting tidbits I highlighted throughout this book:

** ...customers don't want to communicate with brands anymore...they want to communicate through them...

** Although we claim we want more leisure time, we are much more likely to find an opportunity for genuinely fulfilling engagement and learning at work.

** It's about learning to tinker, to tweak, and to test the most basic, underlying assumptions of one's core business or technology.

** (Regarding focus groups...) In the vast majority of the dozens of groups I've observed or led, the purpose was less to glean new insights than to confirm the insights already held.

This turned out to be a very enjoyable book with all sorts of great observations.

It should be titled "Get off the sphere".......2007-02-09

Where to start...

I rated this 4 stars; 5 stars for being thought provoking and reinforcing my notions of what businesses should be concerned with, and 3 stars for the authors glaring examples of old-renaissance ideas/execution that didn't/don't work, yet providing nothing more than hindsight.

I agree with the previous post that the first half of the book was better than the second half. There are so many examples that are counter to the authors examples, but I'll give a few here.

First, in the absense of fullfilment opportunity exists. While Wal-Mart may be an evil company for some of its practices it also provides people in developing countries with a job, where none may have existed before. If you have no food and someone gives you a scrap then you at least survive to move onto a larger portion. If those who are employed at Wal-Mart cannot find another job that pays more than minimum wage then I would suggest going to a library and start learning...it has free internet access...

Second, many of the arguments made throughout the book are based on a circular reference that is incapable of breaking down, when in fact it would break down. If a=b=c=d...y=z and z=a then for values of a-z that fluctuate so does the continuum. Every example given in the book relating to whatever currency units are give follows the same principle: that at some point, hidden beneath the guise of logic and play, energy will need to be expended that is not optimally or even close to optimally what any person would normally do in search of or in realizing the new renaissance. This breaks the whole model and I suppose it also degrades innovation at the same time.

Third, open-source software, though trendy, has limitations. Imagine a world where function a is performed via single open-source project composing of a single developer, then fast-foward t years where function a is now performed by 1000 different projects each with 1000 developers (who share the same egos), in the meantime you have some number of function a demand satisfied by 1000 projects so a/1000. All of the sudden you have function b that people just though of at t+1 days, but only a small portion like 1% of function a projects are compatible...but the developers of function a projects not wanting their egos to be crushed realize this and perhaps migrate over to the small % of function a projects that are compatible...leaving the other 99% of function a projects to be picked up by some developer(s), whos egos aren't as big, to try and work something out with function b compatibility. Now you have function a compatible projects with a huge number of developers wanting to make their mark with function b, but the 99% of the people who utilize function a and now function b must switch to projects that are fully compatible and relearn, etc. The point is that people want recognition, however good or bad that may be, but it's the truth...even authors put their name, photo, etc.

Fourth, I agree that understanding your "core competencies" are very important and understanding the "source code" and "patterns" is nice, but what really got me was how high people must be in order to realize that this is the path to eternal bliss or "play." I mean who in their right mind would choose to clean out a septic tank as a way of "playing" or even perform surgery on someone's brain...just for fun, when you know that someone's life depended on whether you were qualified or not. If you aren't qualified then doesn't that introduce a classe system of sorts? Who would regulate this...would this person think that telling someone they are incompetent was "playing?" It's clear that any system which qualifies someone as being able to perform a specific action, no matter how much fun they might have, is clearly old renaissance and the illusion of new renaissance is just that (not in entirety, but practicality).

Fifth, while some people prefer to solve challenging problems, others would rather just sit around surfing, etc. What do we do with those people? Where would they get their surfboards, wax, wetsuits, food? I'll tell you who...the people that have enough resources at their disposal to just sit back and ponder how the old renaissance is coming to an end in favor of the new renaissance.

Sixth, peoples faith often becomes a paramount influence in the actions they undertake. Some are at extreme ends and radicalize what is otherwise a very moral and just view of how things should be. These radicals often carry out actions against others because their convictions are so strong and so outside of the middle that even if the middle moves it will not be enough so enough will be "encouraged." This artificial skewing leads to others ultimately forgoing "play" in order to build a counter-trend necessary to prevent skewing that is non-organic. In the end you have a reduction in pure innovation (good) and an increase in pure existence. I'm guessing that the author was too busy contemplating whether or not we could he didn't think whether or not we should...

Seven, the book discusses how currency became the demise of society as it pertains to interest, greed, etc. However, in the Paypal example he exalts that business for being upstanding and trying this new thing, but it ultimately fails because of the banks...yada, yada, yada. Anyways, Paypal was earning interest on the float vs. charging money for its service. How is that new renaissance? If we take the banks out of the equation so that interest is no longer accrued then who pays for the hosting, data, maybe it's those people who like to play in data centers. But then, who builds the steel racks, elevated floors, servers, ethernet cables, routers, switches, supplies power, constructs the building, stays up all night trying to figure out why no interest is being accrued :)

Well, that was more of a rant than anything else. I'm glad this book cemented my ideas about open-source software and about how so many company executives are in such disrepair. Innovation...hmmm...whenever I have a bug in software I usually just open a debugging program that I purchased and print-out the portion of code via a printer, utilizing a driver, written by some person of gets off on that sorta thing...but would they do it for free if there other needs weren't being met...I don't think so.

There's a reason why doctors get paid so much money, there's are reason why people do jobs they wouldn't otherwise do, there's a reason why the new renaissance only exists in the imagination of Gene Roddenberry. The have's and the have not's exist today, and perhaps in the 21st century we can combat much of this gap; however, until everyone is content with their existence and opportunity for existence then we will not reach the new renaissance. Indeed, it will only exist where truly innovative ideas take place...our isolated dreams...

Average customer rating:

plug-in
new way to live the modern life
Pleasant Surprise
what a ride!
fantastic book ..

Exit Strategy
Douglas Rushkoff
Manufacturer: Soft Skull Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Media Virus!

ASIN: 1887128905

Book Description

Douglas Rushkoff's latest salvo on complacent media culture, set in 2008, features Jamie Cohen, a young hacker who, like the biblical Joseph, suffers betrayal and then penance (via the talk-show circuit) before joining forces with a venture capitalist determined to turn everyone into mindless consumers. Meanwhile, Jamie's former pals have developed a way to kill the Web's - and the stock market's - profit-making capacities. A dazzling satire of 1990s dot-com mania, this McLuhanesque cultural critique establishes a new publishing precedent: it is the first "open-source" ebook, annotated by online readers. This first print edition includes the best of their footnotes chosen by the author.

Customer Reviews:

plug-in.......2006-02-11

"EXIT STRATEGY, the body encoder that the technojunkie was debugged to the human body pill paradise apparatus of this abolition world plug-in, to send back out cruel emulator of hyperreal HIV=scanner form era respiration-byte." - Kenji Siratori, author of Blood Electric

new way to live the modern life.......2005-02-10

So everything is a game? If we don't think it is, if we take it too seriously we are going to end up being bulls or Jamie. But if we play it as a game, we will have fun? Then if we play the game, we have to understand the rules of the game. If we don't know that it is a game, we live in it, do we become "bad" charactors--bulls, or do we become "Jamie"--the painfully concious person? I think Rushkoff is telling the reader to play, engage, and get out. Engage, play, win or lose, get out.

Pleasant Surprise.......2003-12-12

You can tell Rushkoff is a greenhorn novelist, as the plot falters at points. You often get the feeling that he's trying a bit too hard, but the care that he put into the novel just seeps through to cover up in technical failings. I love the human face Rushkoff puts on the dot.com mentalities of the late 90's. I was just waiting to piss on this book (it was given to me by a friend that usally has taste of that sort), but it was at least moderately enjoyable all the way through and absolutely outstanding a great deal of the time as well. PLUS, Dzama's illustrations are just great. Only thing I wish it that there were more of them.

what a ride!.......2002-11-19

my god. this one blew me away. amazing i hadn't heard of it through normal review channels. destined to be a cult classic, rips through the end of the 20th century like no other satire. written in a wry witty way, with insight and humor.

weird to say, but it's a warm book about some cold people.

fantastic book .........2002-09-26

This is truly a must own book. If you are not familiar with this book, enjoy it, even savior it while you're reading it. This is the type of book that you never want to finish and when you do, you're practically bummed. The storyline is very innovative, the humor sharp and the pacings quick. The bottomline is this book is an excellent read.

I would love to go into particulars about the book but it's kind of a hard one to summarize. I would say that it's almost a cross of The Illuminatus Trilogy and SNOWCRASH. This next comment sounds like a lofty claim, but to me, this book was much better then stephenson's SNOW CRASH.

If you enjoy groundbreaking SCI-FI, I would highly recommend you looking further into this book. I can honestly say that it amazes me that this book never got more fanfare. Critics miss the boat all the time but this book is so good that it should have a grass roots or cult movement that keeps it selling.

Book Description

English wunderkind Genesis P-Orridge, the artist who founded Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, is a musician, an occultist, and a postmodern religious leader living in exile. In Painful but Fabulous, P-Orridge explicates his multiple identities and incarnations — from performance artist and creator of cyberfuturistic artworks to industrial music maker and icon of the body modification movement. Color and black-and-white photos are included.

Customer Reviews:

the real 'st.jerome' would disapprove, but..........2003-05-14

This book is purported elsewhere to include a vinyl 7" one side spoken word, the other several locked-grooves for mixing--The friend of mine that has that record said he REALLY digs it. I don't see details of the 7" in the 'product details' above, but... I'm told that it is supposed to be included. Otherwise, I generally think this is more for the die-hard fans of GPO/PTV than for the curious. The overall look and feel of the book is kind of lo-fi in the format of the Re:Search books, which is ok, because it makes this more affordable for its seekers and won't lose Soft Skull Press much money (or at least I hope not, bcs "they'rre grrite"), but ultimately the color illustrations are kind of lacking for something that's trying to present GPO as an accomplished artist, and this doesn't really acheive the presentation required of a proper art-monograph. (of course, this review doesn't meet the criteria of a proper review either, so forget me) die-hards will require this, and those interested in knowing the genesis ov Genesis P-Orridge should start with the Wreckers of Civilization: History of Coum and TG book which is much more exhuastively historical of Gen's earlier period, and ... well... perhaps I should go and review that one elsewhere. Oh yeah, I think Gen would want me to sign off with something like ASSUME POWER FOCUS, TAKE CARE & CONTROL!

Screenagers: Lessons In Chaos From Digital Kids (Hampton Press Communication)

Average customer rating:

Screenagers: Lessons In Chaos From Digital Kids (Hampton Press Communication)
Douglas Rushkoff
Manufacturer: Hampton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Culture | Business & Culture | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1572736240

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