The Image by Daniel J. Boorstin

ADRIAN'S OPINION: Great book. Another in the line of Media Studies - the type of thing that will assist you in understanding the weirdness around you. Recommended if you enjoy Marshall McLuhan, advertising, or Instagram. Either curiously, as a specimen, or ordinarily. 

Think of an image. Multiply by ten. Square the product. Add prestige. Take away the thing that first made you think of it . Sell it. Print it. Film it. Broadcast it ... And the answer's UNREALITY. 

Such, broadly, is the theme of this debasting study, in which a modern historian pricks the ballon of the American moonshine industry. Professor Boorstin documents for us the way in which newsmen create non-existent news, film companies fabricate stars, travel agents offer adventure without risk, advertising agents inflate nothing into something, and nonetities are turned into heroes by celebrity and celluloid. This is a close analysis of the mentality of technological society, which is for ever seeking to deceive itself with shames and images in order to evade the realities of the world. Like The Hidden Persuaders, or, The Affluent Society, it demonstrates America's reawakening modd and contains profound lessons for every modern society. 

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