Campus Meaningful Reads is a recommended book series celebrating faculty, staff, and students at the University of Washington Tacoma. Everyone is invited to share a book with thoughts on why the book was meaningful to their career, studies, or life.

This week, Annie Nguyen and Edward Chamberlain are sharing their meaningful reads.

 

Annie Nguyen’s Recommended Reading:  Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

“As an 18 year-old, I chose to study Political Communication in the nation’s capital because I was drawn to politics and media. I had been involved in several youth governance programs in high school and thought my calling would be in government and shaping public policy. I had dreams of becoming White House Press Secretary one day. I wanted to write motivational speeches, create buzz for important legislation, and help others understand and process complex international relationships and the U.S.’s actions abroad. I wanted to inspire and inform.

Then I read Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death and realized how very complicated and difficult this task would be. Our news had become so entertainment driven, and the average person’s attention span was so limited that sitting through a press briefing or policy debate or dedicating the time to understand the complex grays of an issue seemed impossible. When Postman wrote this seminal work in 1985 (I would not study it until a decade later), people were largely getting their news from television in the 80s as opposed to newspapers, and with a former actor now president, policy debates had been diminished to soundbites. The writing was on the wall, as they say. News was dry and boring, and people wanted to be amused. (This is a larger discussion of how overworked we all are and how in our spare time, people want decompression and simplicity as a result, but that is a different conversation.) Images – ones that could “show” a story versus a person reading the details of a story – were becoming more important than the commentary. When the Washington Post went from black and white photographs to color, when I was in undergrad studying Postman’s work, we lamented how that further detracted from hard news. Now, 25 years later, it’s incredible to remember this initial concern about color images. Now we have deep fake moving images – and unvetted “news” sources everywhere.

Neil Postman’s work predicted this world, that one day, someone with a television presence and the ability to megaphone their soundbites and manipulate optics would fully replace a skilled and experienced politician who respected the process and impact of legislation. Crises could be manufactured when we weren’t paying attention, he warned, and truth could be obfuscated with the right camera angle. His words resonated with me, and I have spent my career trying to address this issue by first, inspiring students to care more about and delve into current events. I ask students to evaluate their own positions and why they may react certain ways to obvious ploys on ethos and pathos, Aristotelian concepts corresponding to the sense of credibility or a personal, emotional connection to a work. I try to create conversations about complexity around issues and how to research topics deeply while asking themselves if they are just being catered to or entertained or if they are actually hearing or reading something credible and true.

So I guess Postman’s book – and my Poli Comm professor’s choice to teach it – did something that may not have been intended. He diverted me from pursuing a career in politics or press work. Instead, I read his work and eventually saw my role was to help others learn to see past smokescreens and evaluate information in search of truth. While I have read many other inspiring works, this book made the difference between what I thought I wanted to do when I was 18 and what I’ve actually been doing for the past 15 years.”

Annie Nguyen

Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences: Culture, Arts, and Communication

Find Amusing Ourselves to Death in the Library

 

Edward Chamberlain’s Recommended Reading: The Commonsense Cookery Book by The Home Economics Institute of Australia

“In the early 1900s, The Commonsense Cookery Book was first published in New South Wales, Australia. At that time, the book’s primary audience was thought to be mostly girls and women. Boys and men were not expected to learn about cooking due to social norms of the time. In contrast, young women learned to use The Commonsense Cookery Book in various ways. When my mother moved from Australia to the United States in the early 1970s, she brought a copy of the Commonsense Cookery Book with her. Fast-forward to the 1980s, where my mother taught me how to make Australian recipes from the Commonsense Cookery Book at our home. My mother taught that cooking can be fun for everyone. With the cookbook, she taught me how to make recipes such as cherry cookies, or biscuits as they’re called in Australia. These cookies quickly disappear anytime our family makes them.

 I now have a copy of the book at my place so I can continue the tradition. Although we found additional cookbooks useful, The Commonsense Cookery Book allowed us to explore Australia’s culinary history. Looking back, my mother’s passion for cooking inspired me to learn a range of recipes from around the world. These experiences fueled my love of learning and creating good food that can be shared with friends and family. This cookbook has inspired me to seek out and enjoy multiple books from around the world.”

Edward Chamberlain

Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences: Culture, Arts, and Communication

Find The Commonsense Cookery Book in the Library 

 

Thank you for sharing, Annie and Ed!

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