understanding media the extensions of man

In the 1960s McLuhan’s theories aroused both wrath and admiration. Probes, or aphorisms, were an indispensable tool with which he sought to prompt and prod the reader into an 'understanding of how media operate' and to provoke reflection. In Terrence Gordon’s own words, McLuhan is in full flight already in the introduction, challenging us to plunge with him into what he calls the creative process of knowing.’” Much to the chagrin of his contemporary critics McLuhan’s preference was for a prose style that explored rather than explained. This edition of McLuhan’s best-known book both enhances its accessibility to a general audience and provides the full critical apparatus necessary for scholars. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title.When first published, Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media made history with its radical view of the effects of electronic communications upon man and life in the twentieth century. In a new introduction to this edition of Understanding Media, Harper's editor Lewis Lapham reevaluates McLuhan's work in the light of the technological as well as the political and social changes that have occurred in the last part of this century. In effect, media now begs to be redefined. There has been a notable resurgence of interest in McLuhan's work in the last few years, fueled by the recent and continuing conjunctions between the cable companies and the regional phone companies, the appearance of magazines such as WiRed, and the development of new media models and information ecologies, many of which were spawned from MIT's Media Lab. Terms and phrases such as 'the global village' and 'the medium is the message' are now part of the lexicon, and McLuhan's theories continue to challenge our sensibilities and our assumptions about how and what we communicate.

This reissue of Understanding Media marks the thirtieth anniversary (1964-1994) of Marshall McLuhan's classic expose on the state of the then emerging phenomenon of mass media.

Understanding media the extensions of man