TEST PATTERN FOR LIVING Nicholas Johnson Bantam

Throughout Test Pattern for Living, Nicholas Johnson is a man haunted by the evils which surround him. From his vantage point as Federal Communications Commissioner, Johnson has decided to speak out against the vampire lusts of what he terms Big Business, Big Government and Big Broadcasting. He stated his case in his first book (How To Talk Back To Your Television Set) and here he offers more observations as to who, what and why we are the way we are.

It�s difficult not to have a great deal of compassion for what he�s saying. Johnson has a child-like grasp of America�s problems. He�s been sold on all the good causes, from women�s lib to ecology, but his less than specific solutions are embarassingly naive. (One can wear functional rather than socially acceptable clothing. Riding a bicycle will really screw General Motors.) Johnson has the peculiar viewpoint which announces that the people in power are the problem, and the solution is for other people to sit upon the thrones from which the three �Bigs� are controlled.