Product Description

Communications thinker and prophet Marshall McLuhan gave us the phrases "the medium is the message" and "global village". Today, with the explosion of electronic technologies and on-line communication, his ideas are more relevant than ever. Forward Through the Rearview Mirror is an evocative and visually exciting exploration of McLuhan's life and work in the context of the information age. The book consists of short prose passages, aphorisms, interviews, letters, and dialogues by McLuhan -- many never before published -- interwoven with biographical text by his biographer Philip Marchand and commentary by such cultural critics as Louis Rossetto, Neil Postman, Camille Paglia, and Lewis Lapham. The book is organized into four parts: Global Village and Identity, Medium is the Message, and Extensions of Man. In keeping with McLuhan's style of speaking and writing, the text consists of a series of brief entries, ranging in length from a single line to a page. The entries have been selected and positioned so that they can be read consecutively as a narrative or randomly as individual ideas. Throughout, the material by McLuhan appears in a different typeface and color from the material by others, to make the two clearly distinguishable. Part book, part magazine, part storyboard, this multidimensional look at the ideas and life of the patron saint of Wired magazine will appeal to anyone interested in technology, contemporary thought, and popular culture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1174176 in Books
• Published on: 1997-03-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Amazon.com Review
Sixties media theorist Marshall McLuhan understood the implications of emerging mass media on society. This book revisits McLuhan's insights in the wake of our digital communications and technological progress. How have his concepts held up? Very well indeed, apparently, as we see in this book, which presents excerpts of McLuhan's work and commentary from today's thinkers about media, including Lewis Lapham, Neil Postman, and Robert Fulford. McLuhan has been called the patron saint of the digital revolution, and this book is a testament and proof that he deserves the title.

From Library Journal
Most folks know McLuhan as the Sixties sage who coined the phrases "the medium is the message" and the "global village." This nifty little book pulls together many of McLuhan's aphoristic observations in the context of writers such as Neil Postman (The End of Education, LJ 9/1/95) and Louis Rossetto (from Wired magazine). Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book is the visual juxtaposition of current iconic images?e.g., O.J. Simpson, the Gulf War, and Rodney King?with McLuhanisms of the 1960s. Thirty years ago McLuhan was right, today he is really right, and this book explains why for the digitally confused.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

McLuhan for the coffee table.
If McLuhan is new to you, and/or if you have a short attention span, this is the one to pick up. McLuhan's timeless insights into the evolution of man's synthesized environment are juxtaposed with in-your-face photographs and artwork that serve as indisputable evidence of the truth of his analysis. Reading this book at 30,000 feet, I was struck at just how clearly McLuhan is able to penetrate the distraction, distortion, and pre- conceptions endemic to modern technical civilization. The book is indeed like a high altitude surveillance flight over the electomagnetic infrastructure of our age. The combination of images and text have a synergy imploring the reader to understand the accelerating importance of man's media in shaping his behavior. Serve with "Propaganda", by Jacques Ellul, and "Manufacturing Consent", by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman.

Now that you know, go use the knowledge.
Without trying to undermine the insights of McLuhan himself, I think that this book represents just another episode in the `everybody loves Marshall' series. Similar to `Digital McLuhan' by Levinson, this book is crawling with remarks stating how great and wonderful McLuhan was and that it is such a big loss for the world as we know that he's dead. I sincerely wish that - as McLuhan put it himself - the comments would engage more in a dynamic discours on his insights and thoughts and would try to make something out of it. But no, I find myself flipping through oodles of pages for the simple reason that it just contains one of those trival McLuhan-anecdotes/memorabilia. Supposedly McLuhan made it to the top ten of all-time thinkers - such as Nietzsche, Kant, Plato etc. Sure, the insights provided by him are pretty slick, but one has to look for them since most of the books concern the opinions of others that would also like to say a thing or two. It's like a bunch of groupies standing at the far end of a stage thinking that they now too are famous. As far the rest of the book is concerned, there are some nice quotes from McLuhan himself that could very well change your perspective on things happening in our world today. It provides some interesting insights and line of thought for further study. Respect goes out to the extensive bibliography that make it easier to trace back his work. It is truly `McLuhan for the coffee-table', but mind you, there might be a lot of uninvited guests.

The Concice McLuhan
I think the reviewer below summed it well in his subject line saying "McLuhan for the coffee table." Essentially this book is a list of one-liners and ideas of McLuhans. Snippets and paragraphs from books and articles. Could very well be for the beginner, but without explanitory notes (but with pictures); while it could also be for the person already well versed in McLuhans thoughts. Either way, I found it a great book as I find his thinking fascinating, curious and many times humerous. Well presented in large paperback format with slick paper and color photos, this book is a quick and easy McLuhan treat.