When Marshall McLuhan first coined the phrases "global village" and "the medium is the message" in 1964, no-one could have predicted today's information-dependent planet. No-one, that is, except for a handful of science fiction writers and Marshall McLuhan. Understanding Media was written twenty years before the PC revolution and thirty years before the rise of the Internet. Yet McLuhan's insights into our engagement with a variety of media led to a complete rethinking of our entire society. He believed that the message of electronic media foretold the end of humanity as it was known. In 1964, this looked like the paranoid babblings of a madman. In our twenty-first century digital world, the madman looks quite sane. Understanding Media: the most important book ever written on communication. Ignore its message at your peril.
Introduction 3
1 The Medium is the Message 7
2 Media Hot and Cold 24
3 Reversal of the Overheated Medium 36
4 The Gadget Lover: Narcissus as Narcosis 45
5 Hybrid Energy: Les Liaisons Dangereuses 53
6 Media as Translators 62
7 Challenge and Collapse: the Nemesis of Creativity 68
8 The Spoken Word: Flower of Evil? 83
9 The Written World: an Eye for an Ear 88
10 Roads and Paper Routes 97
11 Number: Profile of the Crowd 115
12 Clothing: Our Extended Skin 129
13 Housing: New Look and New Outlook 133
14 Money: the Poor Man's Credit Card 142
15 Clocks: the Scent of Time 157
16 The Print: How to Dig it 170
17 Comics: Mad Vestibule to TV 178
18 The Printed Word: Architect of Nationalism 185
19 Wheel, Bicycle, and Airplane 195
20 The Photograph: the Brothel-without-Walls 204
21 Press: Government by News Leak 220
22 Motorcar: the Mechanical Bride 236
23 Ads: Keeping Upset with the Joneses 246
24 Games: the Extensions of Man 254
25 Telegraph: the Social Hormone 267
More...
(0 Comentarios)
