You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything
Original price was: $30.00.$23.87Current price is: $23.87.
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Pulitzer Prize-winning author and data expert Walt Hickey explains the power of entertainment to change our biology, our beliefs, how we see ourselves, and how nations gain power.
Virtually anyone who has ever watched a profound movie, a powerful TV show, or read a moving novel understands that entertainment can and does affect us in surprising and significant ways. But did you know that our most popular forms of entertainment can have a direct physical effect on us, a measurable impact on society, geopolitics, the economy, and even the future itself? In You Are What You Watch, Walter Hickey, Pulitzer Prize winner and former chief culture writer at acclaimed data site FiveThirtyEight.com, proves how exactly how what we watch (and read and listen to) has a far greater effect on us and the world at large than we imagine.
Employing a mix of research, deep reporting, and 100 data visualizations, Hickey presents the true power of entertainment and culture. From the decrease in shark populations after Jaws to the increase in women and girls taking up archery following The Hunger Games, You Are What You Watch proves its points not just with research and argument, but hard data. Did you know, for example, that crime statistics prove that violent movies actually lead to less real-world violence? And that the international rise of anime and Manga helped lift the Japanese economy out of the doldrums in the 1980s? Or that British and American intelligence agencies actually got ideas from the James Bond movies?
In You Are What You Watch, readers will be given a nerdy, and sobering, celebration of popular entertainment and its surprising power to change the world.
From the Publisher
Publisher : Workman Publishing Company (October 24, 2023)
Language : English
Hardcover : 240 pages
ISBN-10 : 1523515899
ISBN-13 : 978-1523515899
Item Weight : 1.61 pounds
Dimensions : 6.95 x 23 x 9.3 inches
Customers say
Customers find the book fascinating, informative, and profound. They describe it as a great read from a great author. Readers also mention the book is fun, interesting, and worth reading. They appreciate the stunning visual quality.
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8 reviews for You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything
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Jack Q. W. Cantwell –
Fascinating, fun and ultimately profound
I have read Walt Hickeyâs daily newsletter âNumlock Newsâ since its inception years ago and itâs always a happy part of my day. So, when I saw he was publishing a book, I was very excited. âYou Are What You Watchâ exceeded my already high expectations.Full of fascinating science and data on the human brain, psychology, and, of course, popular culture, it nevertheless reads like a novel and is as hard to put down. Every time I picked it up, I found myself saying to my wife or daughter, âListen to this! Itâs amazing!â In the end, Waltâs comments on what it means to be human the importance of art in our lives is moving and profound.If you have any interest in film or television or popular culture in general, you need to read this book. Iâve already given it as a gift three times. Give yourself a gift and buy it for yourself!
Donald R Nottingham –
great book good insights
THis is a good book! Pretty readable, and really good insights based on research and data. Of course, for movie lovers (and who isn’t??) it’s also a fun nostalgia trip.
Pc –
entertaining and awesome
This book is brilliant. Mr. Hickey is a highly skilled writer who has turned his divergent thinking ability to analysis of scientific findings from a wide range of human endeavors. He has created the first non-fiction page-turner I’ve ever encountered. I now think differently about myself, as an individual, and about the wide world around me. I ordered my first copy for Kindle, just for the convenience of backlighting. Reading the book, I realized that I also need a hard copy for (relatively) permanent storage. For my lifestyle, that is a once-per-decade decision. I think that the expertly presented subject matter inside the seemingly trivial title, YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ, will lead to the book being widely recognized as one of the great books of the 21st century.
Julianne reed –
Beautiful enough for the coffee table, vital enough to read cover-to-cover
This book presents painstakingly researched data about pop culture in a special way that both preserves the whimsey of the subject matter while also doing so in a visually captivating way with the help of over 100 stunningly beautiful data visualizations. In addition to laying out an entertaining history of how media has impacted our conscious and unconscious lives, Hickey’s book explores topics highly relevant to how we interact as humans. The theses he presents feel extremely relevant to the present times and make me think about how the next decades will similarly shape our development as social beings. I greatly enjoyed this book and it will make perfect Christmas gifts for several friends.
Jenna Ross –
A critique
The author put a lot of work into this, and writes an excellent blog which I fully recommend that shows a grasp of data along with a wicked sense of humor I was hoping to find in this book. Instead, while mostly data, I had hoped more of a deep love of what story telling has always done for humanity would come through. Instead I stopped reading when JK Rowling was denigrated for her political and feminists beliefs that are currently unfashionable. In my years of reading Numlock I didn’t see any ideology so perhaps the insults were put in by an overeager copy editor, but it took me out of the mood to read the book. Yes, I know ideology influences stories, but I hadn’t planned on reading, either way, insults against anyone based on their beliefs.
Ian M. Sirota –
Such a fun book!
I’ve been a longtime reader of Walt Hickey’s column, and this book is “more of the same”. And, by “more of the same”, I mean “a fantastic insight into pop culture and how it affects all of our lives, even in ways that we don’t imagine.” Can’t recommend this book enough to anyone who has interested in how things are and how they got there.
R. Gale –
Interesting and counter-intuitive
This is definitely worth reading. Altho some of his analyses are a bit dense, and some graphs and statistics can be confusing, overall, I definitely recommend this book: it will make you think, and that’s the hallmark of a worthwhile book.
Ryan –
Eye opening and humbling
2024 was a year for reading and starting off with you are what you watch nailed it. Too often we forget that peer pressure takes all forms and has no off limits. Too easily we emulate what we see on television and this author truly understands the audience. Definitely a good read. 10/10 would recommend