James5

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A new book by Stephen A. Marglin looks interesting. It’s called The Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community. I look forward to giving it a read, especially as economists are rapidly taking over many different domains.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Daniel Solove has just released the full text of his book The Future of Reputation for free online. It’s meant to be a great read, I can’t wait to find some time to read it.

Popularity: 5% [?]

GreenLAGirl has reviewed Javatrekker a book chronicling Dean Cycon’s journey through a variety of coffee farms. Looks good.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Halfway through the dreaded assessment period at uni I stopped in at our local library and was very impressed by the range of political and economic books on offer. I picked up a few and have begun reading The Persuaders by Sally Young, a book from 2004 about the “hidden machine of political advertising (reviewed by The Age here). Sally was involved as a “media analyst” in some ALP campaigns and I think she is an academic at Melbourne University.

According to the blurb, The Persuaders is an “insiders” look at the tricks and schemes of political advertising. It demonstrates how Australian democracy is being undermined by the media machine.

So far (up to page 36) it’s being an interesting romp through the history of Australian political advertising. Beginning with Whitlam, the birth of television ad campaigns and a more emotive, less rational approach to campaigning, going briefly back to the birth of Australian politics in the 1800s and now beginning to analyse the “medium as the message”.

What I’ve found most interesting so far is the shift in campaigning from rational explanation of policies designed to get the voter to think about the options available to vapid, emotive advertising aimed at swining voters watching Today Tonight who are less likely to deeply analyse policy. Interesting stat #1, in 1949 The Age had 25 different ads during the four-week campaign, by 1998 it was down to 7. Nowadays it’s all about image, soundbites and media blitz to satuarate the voter.

I’m really interested in what Young sees as the solutions.

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Popularity: 5% [?]