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The Influencing Machine

May 17th, 2011

I’ve been dying for an excuse to plug The Influencing Machine by Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld, since I read an advance copy several weeks ago, and this PW article oughtta fit the bill (though I’m a little embarrassed to be once again linking to an article that turns around and plugs me back at one point =•_•=).

The Influencing Machine is one of the best non-fiction comics I’ve read. I’m a long-time listener/reader of both Gladstone and Neufeld, and their work dovetails beautifully here as they tackle the important and timely issues of media evolution and influence.

Gladstone’s work for NPR’s On the Media has always been top-notch. Her probing, far-reaching editorials for that show set the tone for The Influencing Machine. This is an ambitious book, and it delivers. I’m delighted that she chose comics (and Neufeld!) to help hammer these vital issues into our minds.

I strongly recommend both the book and, if you haven’t heard it before, the show.

Posted in Audio, Non-Fiction Comics, Press

Discussion (7)¬

  1. James Burns says:
    May 17, 2011 at 9:26 am

    Scott:

    Are there sample pages anywhere? I’d like to see some.

  2. Sam says:
    May 18, 2011 at 5:48 am

    (though I’m a little embarrassed to be once again linking to an article that turns around and plugs me back at one point =•_•=).

    It plugs you back deservingly:
    “But the new book owes quite a bit to another critical work of nonfiction comics. Indeed, in an interview with Gladstone and Neufeld at the PW offices (she was about to leave for Egypt), she laughed heartily when we joked that she should call the book Understanding Media, in reference to the work of comics’ theoretician Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics, a celebrated and serious critical examination of the formal elements of the comics medium delivered in the visual language of comics itself.”

  3. Scott McCloud | Journal » Archive » Friday Odds and Ends says:
    May 20, 2011 at 7:52 am

    […] Tuesday’s post, You can read more about (and of) The Influencing Machine on Slate today. Check it […]