Books › The influencing machine
The influencing machine
208 pages
A witty, illustrated crash course in how we consume information and why we fall for the same tricks century after century.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting down for a coffee with your smartest, most media-savvy friend who is determined to talk you off the ledge of modern news panic. The graphic format gives it a brisk, propulsive energy, translating dense historical and psychological concepts into sharp, digestible visual metaphors. It is an intellectually stimulating experience that balances a wry, slightly cynical tone with a deep, earnest belief in the power of an informed public. The mood is inquisitive and eye-opening, stripping away the illusion of objective journalism to reveal the messy, human biases underneath. It will delight news junkies, history buffs, and anyone seeking a witty, empowering lens through which to view our chaotic information age.
- Mood
- inquisitive
- eye-opening
- intellectually stimulating
- Tone
- wry
- conversational
- erudite
- witty
- didactic
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the illusion of objectivity · historical cycles of panic · cognitive bias · media consumption and complicity
- The writing
- Sharp, accessible, and highly conversational, blending NPR-style intellectual rigor with the visual punchiness of comic art.
- The arc
- Moves from a sense of overwhelming media paranoia to a grounded, empowering understanding of our own complicity as consumers.
- Who it's for
- Media junkies, news consumers, and anyone who wants to understand why the world feels so chaotic without losing their sense of humor.
Content notes
- discussions of war and propaganda
- political polarization
About the book
The cohost of NPR's "On the Media" narrates, in cartoon form, two millennia of history 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.
Description from Open Library.
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