McLuhan for Beginners

By W. Terrence Gordon

Marshall McLuhan was one of the most brilliant and original thinkers of the 20th century. He was so far ahead of his time that he predicted the future and offered a critique of human behavior in a media saturated world that is perhaps more valuable in today's Internet age than it was in his own time.

McLuhan pioneered the study of Media, unified Art and Science, and warned us about the perils of a televised, computerized, famous-for-15-minutes, social media world. A world where we would live in each other's faces, and become so alike, so isolated, so anonymous that violence would become a scream of identity, a way of saying, "I am not invisible." McLuhan tried to teach us to guard against these dehumanizing, debasing effects of technology, and a thousand other things, but we got reality television anyway.

The centennial celebration of McLuhan's life and the re-release of his books has led to a surge of new interest in his thinking and teachings. McLuhan For Beginners provides an essential introduction that is clear, comprehensive, and easy to remember. It is full of wise and witty art by Susan Willmarth that is a perfect match to W. Terrence Gordon's writing. McLuhan envisioned the media generated Global Village before it existed, and no one since McLuhan has described its allure and pitfalls better.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1934389757
• ISBN13: 9781934389751
• Release Date: October 2012
• Publisher: Steerforth Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Great intro to mcluhan

I found McLuhan difficult to follow. His ideas are spread on his thick books and sometimes it's hard to make sense of all of them at first. This book was a great intro to his work. It gives a good overview and reading the books afterwords becomes a fun pleasure.

An excellent Intro to McLuhanism

Terrence Gordon, who also wrote a book on McLuhans thoughts and life, gives a cohesive and concise introduction to this genius' work. Although the idea of McLuhan for beginners might be a contradiction in itself, one needs to start somewhere, and I suggest this one to be a great start. Citing from all of McLuhans works and some more obscure titles, Gordon makes the impression that he is very knowledgable of McLuhan, as well as his theories, being able to make analogies and modern day references for anyone to understand. This book will also give you the appreciation and depth of McLuhans work without losing the message in its compactness of thought. Highly reccomended for those interested in McLuhans works.