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Extraordinary Canadians
Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work!
Marshall McLuhan, the celebrated social theorist who defined the culture of the 1960s, is remembered now primarily for the aphoristic slogan he coined to explain the emerging new world of global “The medium is the message.” Half a century later, McLuhan’s predictions about the end of print culture and the rise of “electronic inter-dependence” have become a reality—in a sense, the reality—of our time.
Douglas Coupland, whose iconic novel Generation X was a “McLuhanesque” account of our culture in fictional form, has written a compact biography of the cultural critic that interprets the life and work of his subject from inside. A fellow Canadian, a master of creative sociology, a writer who supplied a defining term, Coupland is the ideal chronicler of the uncanny prophet whose vision of the global village—now known as the Internet—has come to pass in the 21st century.
Douglas Coupland, whose iconic novel Generation X was a “McLuhanesque” account of our culture in fictional form, has written a compact biography of the cultural critic that interprets the life and work of his subject from inside. A fellow Canadian, a master of creative sociology, a writer who supplied a defining term, Coupland is the ideal chronicler of the uncanny prophet whose vision of the global village—now known as the Internet—has come to pass in the 21st century.
216 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
31 people are currently reading
1459 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Coupland
108 books4,684 followersDouglas Coupland is Canadian, born on a Canadian Air Force base near Baden-Baden, Germany, on December 30, 1961. In 1965 his family moved to Vancouver, Canada, where he continues to live and work. Coupland has studied art and design in Vancouver, Canada, Milan, Italy and Sapporo, Japan. His first novel, Generation X, was published in March of 1991. Since then he has published nine novels and several non-fiction books in 35 languages and most countries on earth. He has written and performed for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, England, and in 2001 resumed his practice as a visual artist, with exhibitions in spaces in North America, Europe and Asia. 2006 marks the premiere of the feature film Everything's Gone Green, his first story written specifically for the screen and not adapted from any previous work. A TV series (13 one-hour episodes) based on his novel, jPod premieres on the CBC in January, 2008.
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Retrieved 07:55, May 15, 2008, from http://www.coupland.com/coupland_bio....
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Retrieved 07:55, May 15, 2008, from http://www.coupland.com/coupland_bio....
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
February 19, 2011
[review by Maf, Marilyn Monroe’s Maltese mutt]
alliteration: m, mm’smm. see? i mean, hear? oh, but that’s not all: the subject of the review is a book about marshall mcluhan. so we get two more m’s: mm! and then, hey, media message! two more! what a string of m’s! get it? wow! no, bow wow!
here’s the most important thing you can know about marshall mcluhan, which i dug up like a bone buried in the loam of this tome [i very much regret the many artistic/autistic devices in this review, i do, i do, but i.o.u. a sense of the nonsense of the book under review, which is hard and desirable. the nonsense, that is. ok, and the book. a nice juicy bone of contention]: “He [McLuhan] grew to love the word bullshit [emphasis author’s], as well as the idea of bullshitting [emphasis author’s] and throwing [emphasis mine] ideas around in casual banter as a means of generating [emphasis mine] new ideas.”
as i have clearly indicated, when it comes to bullshit, generating and throwing are all-important functions, and this book by mcluhan fanboy coupland [ok, the guy back in the false dawn of fax machines [c. 2000 minus 14?] crayon-rubs mcluhan’s tombstone and engineers as circumfaxination of the globe] does them both quite well. but it is also full of piss and vinegar, which is a good thing. let them soak in; kick the merde out of the way.
such as: 1. Various internet-name-generator (emo, pirate, goth, pornstar) generations of “marshall mcluhan.” 2. the Autism Quotient Spectrum questionnaire, thrown in to show the poor pulped paginated trees who’s boss. 3. driving directions from St. Louis to Windsor, Ontario, thrown in to exemplify(?) the mcluhan quote occupying the entire previous page and saying, lo, “mass transportation is doomed to failure in North America because a person’s car is the only place where he can be alone and think.” ho ho HOV lane! and, best of all, 4. no index! big brother google book keyword-generates the world! bwahaha! so that i can’t find the fool driving directions from St. Louis to Windsor when my cabbie’s on Rosa Parks in Detroit and asking me, me! “is it Jefferson Ave. next?” without flipping through the whole book.
flipping. through. out. off. over.
row, row, rococo. Coupland’s style is like going into Google and entering “Fragonard” and “Warhol” and “global village” and “biography” and then clicking on “images” and then using the results to make a deck of cards and then playing solitaire. [try it!]
Coupland, p. 154: “Most anyone who attended or audited his classes or went to any of his speeches will agree that Marshall [sic ‘em, maf: first-name basis, eh?] became random quickly. He was tangential and self-contradictory, and could really piss [emphasis mine] people off.”
so there is some stuff here. some good, soaking, yellow stuff. the insights are there and they make you want to know more about “Marshall” and his ironic relationship with his poppy wisdom.
Coupland, p. 79-80: “whenever he [“Marshall”] picked up a new book, he turned to page 69, and if that page didn’t impress him, he wouldn’t read the book.” wouldn’t you know, p. 69 of Coupland’s book is a stream of fine biography, unimpressive, but readable and informative. as for the impressive stuff … well, let’s just say that what you step in leaves an impression.
alliteration: m, mm’smm. see? i mean, hear? oh, but that’s not all: the subject of the review is a book about marshall mcluhan. so we get two more m’s: mm! and then, hey, media message! two more! what a string of m’s! get it? wow! no, bow wow!
here’s the most important thing you can know about marshall mcluhan, which i dug up like a bone buried in the loam of this tome [i very much regret the many artistic/autistic devices in this review, i do, i do, but i.o.u. a sense of the nonsense of the book under review, which is hard and desirable. the nonsense, that is. ok, and the book. a nice juicy bone of contention]: “He [McLuhan] grew to love the word bullshit [emphasis author’s], as well as the idea of bullshitting [emphasis author’s] and throwing [emphasis mine] ideas around in casual banter as a means of generating [emphasis mine] new ideas.”
as i have clearly indicated, when it comes to bullshit, generating and throwing are all-important functions, and this book by mcluhan fanboy coupland [ok, the guy back in the false dawn of fax machines [c. 2000 minus 14?] crayon-rubs mcluhan’s tombstone and engineers as circumfaxination of the globe] does them both quite well. but it is also full of piss and vinegar, which is a good thing. let them soak in; kick the merde out of the way.
such as: 1. Various internet-name-generator (emo, pirate, goth, pornstar) generations of “marshall mcluhan.” 2. the Autism Quotient Spectrum questionnaire, thrown in to show the poor pulped paginated trees who’s boss. 3. driving directions from St. Louis to Windsor, Ontario, thrown in to exemplify(?) the mcluhan quote occupying the entire previous page and saying, lo, “mass transportation is doomed to failure in North America because a person’s car is the only place where he can be alone and think.” ho ho HOV lane! and, best of all, 4. no index! big brother google book keyword-generates the world! bwahaha! so that i can’t find the fool driving directions from St. Louis to Windsor when my cabbie’s on Rosa Parks in Detroit and asking me, me! “is it Jefferson Ave. next?” without flipping through the whole book.
flipping. through. out. off. over.
row, row, rococo. Coupland’s style is like going into Google and entering “Fragonard” and “Warhol” and “global village” and “biography” and then clicking on “images” and then using the results to make a deck of cards and then playing solitaire. [try it!]
Coupland, p. 154: “Most anyone who attended or audited his classes or went to any of his speeches will agree that Marshall [sic ‘em, maf: first-name basis, eh?] became random quickly. He was tangential and self-contradictory, and could really piss [emphasis mine] people off.”
so there is some stuff here. some good, soaking, yellow stuff. the insights are there and they make you want to know more about “Marshall” and his ironic relationship with his poppy wisdom.
Coupland, p. 79-80: “whenever he [“Marshall”] picked up a new book, he turned to page 69, and if that page didn’t impress him, he wouldn’t read the book.” wouldn’t you know, p. 69 of Coupland’s book is a stream of fine biography, unimpressive, but readable and informative. as for the impressive stuff … well, let’s just say that what you step in leaves an impression.
February 19, 2021
Having just read the book almost non-stop I'm currently rating this as one of the best books I have ever read. Firstly it is very well written. The author knows his subject and is able to identify key formative moments in Marshall's life and family background and even his physiology. Secondly I knew nothing of Marshall and now want to read him. Marshall wrote that "the medium is the message" in 1962. It took neuroscience another 40 years to concur, e.g. reading continuous narrative wires us differently to excessive exposure to TV. He even predicted the modern Internet and social networking and did not relish the thought.
Marshall was one of the first to apply New Criticism to all cultural activity. This was the 60s. He sought to understand TV and its effects, billboards etc. Pop critic.
On a personal level I had decided to do much more reading after an article I read in Sci Am about narrative and the development of the pre-frontal cortex and already I'm hitting the issue again from for me an unlikely source.
Reading is good or you :-)
Marshall was one of the first to apply New Criticism to all cultural activity. This was the 60s. He sought to understand TV and its effects, billboards etc. Pop critic.
On a personal level I had decided to do much more reading after an article I read in Sci Am about narrative and the development of the pre-frontal cortex and already I'm hitting the issue again from for me an unlikely source.
Reading is good or you :-)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 28, 2012
Bella questa biografia del famoso massmediologo. Presenta il personaggio con una lettura attuale nei riferimenti legati alle scoperte delle neuroscienze e della psicologia, farciti da giochi di parole, tanto cari a McLuhan, anagrammati da applicazioni di Internet e schede dei suoi libri nelle prime edizioni originali in vendita sui bookstore.
Il cervello dell'uomo che ha inventato le espressioni come "Galassia Gutemberg", "Il medium è il messaggio", "Villaggio globale" era allo stesso tempo fragile e potente perché doppiamente irrorato da due arterie che lo facevano girare a mille, ma la sorte per lui è stata beffarda perché, proprio questo organo leso dagli innumerevoli ictus, gli impedì di parlare, di scrivere, di leggere, ma solo di ascoltare, facendolo retrocedere alla stessa condizione di chi viveva nella società che egli stesso definiva "uditiva", quella precedente all'invenzione del carattere mobile.
Il cervello dell'uomo che ha inventato le espressioni come "Galassia Gutemberg", "Il medium è il messaggio", "Villaggio globale" era allo stesso tempo fragile e potente perché doppiamente irrorato da due arterie che lo facevano girare a mille, ma la sorte per lui è stata beffarda perché, proprio questo organo leso dagli innumerevoli ictus, gli impedì di parlare, di scrivere, di leggere, ma solo di ascoltare, facendolo retrocedere alla stessa condizione di chi viveva nella società che egli stesso definiva "uditiva", quella precedente all'invenzione del carattere mobile.
September 27, 2021
To have the life and thought of a real, actual genius (Mcluhan) explained in clever, intriguing prose from another real, actual genius (Coupland), and all you have to do is run your eyes from left to right across the text & pay attention while doing so? Yes, sure, sign me up, I'll be there.
Maybe the best non-fiction book I've read this year. Fun, stimulating, a real page-turner.
As a teaser, you can also check out: https://youtu.be/trqaf3frERU?t=712
Maybe the best non-fiction book I've read this year. Fun, stimulating, a real page-turner.
As a teaser, you can also check out: https://youtu.be/trqaf3frERU?t=712
May 18, 2014
Was looking for a McLuhan for Dummies sort of book, instead Coupland focuses 90% on biography, 10% on McLuhan's work (which, admittedly, I know nothing of). So even though I (still) can barely summarize any of his main ideas, I do know what Marshall's favorite food was (steak).
December 11, 2025
We have a stack of these Extraordinary Canadians biographies in the apartment, so I am planning on reading a few of them. I gravitated to this McLuhan biography because I’ve read Douglas Coupland before and find him quite cutting edge and quirky. However, I did not enjoy this book as much as I expected, and I take issue with his approach to writing it. This series is meant to allow talented Canadian writers to highlight Canadian icons of the past. I feel that Coupland didn’t adapt his writing style enough to make this book fit in with the rest of the series. Obviously there is plenty of room for personal writing style, but he really didn’t try to adapt his usual zany approach at all. It feels more like the latest Coupland project than like a way to celebrate a prominent Canadian. Coupland makes use of footnotes to insert his own stories. On many pages the footnotes take up over half the page. I think this is very self-aggrandizing and neglects the assignment of highlighting McLuhan’s life and work. There are many whole pages devoted to little word games and internet ads. I’m not an uber-traditionalist or something, but I didn’t feel like this contributed to the mission of telling McLuhan’s story. Additionally, I feel like Coupland assumes that the reader has more familiarity with McLuhan’s theories than I would expect. I came away from this book with a very surface level understanding of McLuhan’s ideas, despite reading a 250 page book about him. I would say the positive aspects of this book are that it’s very easy to read, seems well-researched, and exhibits an evident interest in the subject matter.
January 4, 2022
Cory makes Marshall take off his shoes to reveal his feet of clay, but at the same time reveals a new side of this man who may answer so many questions about who we are now and where we're heading.
August 12, 2019
Blurb:
Marshall McLuhan, the celebrated social theorist who defined the culture of the 1960s, is remembered now primarily for the aphoristic slogan he coined to explain the emerging new world of global communication: “The medium is the message.” Half a century later, McLuhan’s predictions about the end of print culture and the rise of “electronic inter-dependence” have become a reality—in a sense, the reality—of our time.
Douglas Coupland, whose iconic novel Generation X was a “McLuhanesque” account of our culture in fictional form, has written a compact biography of the cultural critic that interprets the life and work of his subject from inside. A fellow Canadian, a master of creative sociology, a writer who supplied a defining term, Coupland is the ideal chronicler of the uncanny prophet whose vision of the global village—now known as the Internet—has come to pass in the 21st century.
My Opinion:
Well, I have to say, this short read was quite a bit of a rollercoaster-ride for me. But before I start going into details, I have to tell you a few things about myself, even though I always try to avoid putting myself in, when it comes to writing reviews: I’m a 23-years-old Italian university student with a disability that bounds me to the wheelchair. Back in high school, I desperately wanted to study molecular biomedicine (or genetics, if you want it in less fancy terms), but life threw me some big fat juicy curveballs and after the death of my mother made me a de facto orphan, I winded up studying Communication Science in Culture in my hometown instead. In my fourth semester, I came across Marshall McLuhan and his genius and even though I’d heard of him in other classes before, I was star struck. Somewhat depressed (because I have a lot of mommy issues, daddy issues, trust issues, anxiety issues, anger issues and unresolved grief issues going on) and somewhat sleep-deprived (a consequence of the aforementioned issues), one day I asked my professor (amongst seven other things) how the hell Marshall McLuhan became Marshall McLuhan. On the spur of the moment, I didn’t think much of this question. However, it must have impressed said professor (who’s a nuthead by the way), because not only did he agree to grade an E-Mail instead of a term paper, but he also immediately sent me a PDF of this book.
And so, I came to read “Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work!” by Douglas Coupland. And I honestly have to say, my first impression was: “This book needs trigger alerts!” Because after reading the first chapter, the one about the fact that this greater-than-life person had to end his life unable to speak his wonderful mind, I sat in my kitchen, crying and furiously remembering why I wanted to study genetics in first place: to avoid that such cosmic insults on the bravest and the brightest people on earth ever happened again.
Somehow, I managed to keep my aching heart together and to read on. Yeah, to be honest, I did not only read on, but I did so with a feverish, nearly maniac intensity, that surprised me a bit. And I managed to find, what I was looking for: the answer to my question how McLuhan became McLuhan. Namely by having a differently wired brain and by wanting to please his terrific and demanding mother throughout his whole life. But my mind was also swarming with more and more questions, the more I read on and I started to feel like one of McLuhan’s students coming out of one of his classes: intrigued, fascinated, stimulated, but also irked, confused and very tired. In this period Douglas Coupland’s writing style and approach towards this book annoyed me quite a bit. I found it too superficial and bashing, too fast and fragmented, too mosaic-like. Just like a book written by McLuhan himself. It was not what I expected from a biography. In my opinion, a biography has to be something intimate, something that gives you a feeling of knowing the person you’re reading about quite well. In this case, it was the opposite: the more I read on, the less I felt I knew and understood about McLuhan’s work. So, I dropped the book more or less halfway through it, exhausted and still none the wiser.
The semester went on. Life too. My depression gave me a (small) break. I had some good days. Some less good days. Some fights. Some apologetic E-Mails I had to write. I partied hard when the end of the lessons finally arrived and studied even harder during exam period. In the meantime, “Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work” has been sitting silently in a corner of my desktop, waiting for me. August came and I decided to give it another try.
Okay, to be honest, this didn’t come completely out of the blue. Summer and vacation time is not an easy period for me. Finding a summer job when you cannot wait tables is a nightmare and so during summer I often have too much time to think about my future, my past, my problems and my parents, whose deaths fall into this time of the year. Currently, I’m going through another load of weird, depressing and nerve-wracking co-dependence and grief shit and I started to wonder if Marshall McLuhan ever managed to free himself of his overbearing mother Elsie and her expectations of him. So, I picked up this book again, hoping to find a little comfort and hope nestled within its pages. But, as I couldn’t remember where I had left oft, I decided to start from anew, this time trying to read it all in one night (because I didn’t want to sleep. Just four words for you: Nightmares. Of. My. Mother.)
This time around, I happened to appreciate Douglas Coupland’s writing style and approach to the subject much more. I liked the fact that he tried to make someone as shrewd and strange as Marshall McLuhan to appear a little more human and approachable. I caught on the author’s subtle and quirky type of humor and it made me smile to myself quite a few times. I got a clearer picture of who Marshall McLuhan was and why he thought the way, he thought, even though a lot of questions remained open. I would have liked to know more about McLuhan as a father, as a family man. And about those people that lived in his exorbitant shadow: his wife Corinne, his brother Maurice and his eldest son and co-worker, Eric. Especially Eric is mentioned more times towards the end of the book, but he always remains a very vague and shadowy character. It’s a pity.
I’m not sure if I understood much of McLuhan’s work and theories reading this book. Hell, I’m not even sure if I understood anything about McLuhan or communication during my studies so far. “Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work” certainly is not an introduction to his work. Douglas Coupland tries to explain a few things, like “the medium is the message”, the global village, or McLuhan’s theory of hot and cold media. But the truth is, I’m not even sure that people who spend their lives reading McLuhan get a full grasp on his work. So, I can’t blame neither Mr. Coupland, nor myself for failing in this, can I? But as Douglas Coupland mentioned too, “The Medium is the Message” is probably a much better (and hopefully easy to read) introduction to the Planet McLuhan.
Nonetheless, Douglas Coupland managed to create quite a full and fascinating picture of who this great man was. Some details were funny and interesting, others rather annoyed me, like the street directions in the middle of the book that seemed to have no sense, or the open product placement for McLuhan’s book taken directly from Amazon.
What prompted me to give this book a full five-star rating in the end was a rather personal story the author told. He compared Marshall McLuhan to his grandfather and it was this that made me realize why the fascination for a crusty old vehicle for new ideas is still unbroken, even nearly forty years after his death and it made me understand my own fascination for McLuhan a little better. McLuhan was a strange guy with lots of strange ideas. Most of them came true only after his death. He was an outsider, a medical and personal curiosum, someone who never fit in anywhere. He was the classical geeky, nerdy and insufferable clever kid in high school. And as such he became a holding center, a sort of an anti-hero for all the other shrewd, weird, differently wired, aliens from outer space kids that somehow managed to grow into adults and by destiny, by design or by disaster (in my case) started to look into this banal and fascinating thing that communication is.
So, thank you, Mr. Coupland. Boy-oh-boy, you wrote a bombastic book. A book that was able to inspire me, much like McLuhan inspired his students and co-workers. A book that brought back someone, who has been gone for a long time and has nearly been forgotten. However, I hope neither you nor Marshall McLuhan mind, if I now concentrate on something else for some time. Because all your talking about time and space put me in the mood to revisit some notions of physics and quantum mechanics (even if I hated physics back in high school). But, before I finish this review and put Marshall McLuhan back in the hole of my brain, where he came from, let me ask you one last question: Nearly forty years after his death, what do you think is left of his work?
Marshall McLuhan, the celebrated social theorist who defined the culture of the 1960s, is remembered now primarily for the aphoristic slogan he coined to explain the emerging new world of global communication: “The medium is the message.” Half a century later, McLuhan’s predictions about the end of print culture and the rise of “electronic inter-dependence” have become a reality—in a sense, the reality—of our time.
Douglas Coupland, whose iconic novel Generation X was a “McLuhanesque” account of our culture in fictional form, has written a compact biography of the cultural critic that interprets the life and work of his subject from inside. A fellow Canadian, a master of creative sociology, a writer who supplied a defining term, Coupland is the ideal chronicler of the uncanny prophet whose vision of the global village—now known as the Internet—has come to pass in the 21st century.
My Opinion:
Well, I have to say, this short read was quite a bit of a rollercoaster-ride for me. But before I start going into details, I have to tell you a few things about myself, even though I always try to avoid putting myself in, when it comes to writing reviews: I’m a 23-years-old Italian university student with a disability that bounds me to the wheelchair. Back in high school, I desperately wanted to study molecular biomedicine (or genetics, if you want it in less fancy terms), but life threw me some big fat juicy curveballs and after the death of my mother made me a de facto orphan, I winded up studying Communication Science in Culture in my hometown instead. In my fourth semester, I came across Marshall McLuhan and his genius and even though I’d heard of him in other classes before, I was star struck. Somewhat depressed (because I have a lot of mommy issues, daddy issues, trust issues, anxiety issues, anger issues and unresolved grief issues going on) and somewhat sleep-deprived (a consequence of the aforementioned issues), one day I asked my professor (amongst seven other things) how the hell Marshall McLuhan became Marshall McLuhan. On the spur of the moment, I didn’t think much of this question. However, it must have impressed said professor (who’s a nuthead by the way), because not only did he agree to grade an E-Mail instead of a term paper, but he also immediately sent me a PDF of this book.
And so, I came to read “Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work!” by Douglas Coupland. And I honestly have to say, my first impression was: “This book needs trigger alerts!” Because after reading the first chapter, the one about the fact that this greater-than-life person had to end his life unable to speak his wonderful mind, I sat in my kitchen, crying and furiously remembering why I wanted to study genetics in first place: to avoid that such cosmic insults on the bravest and the brightest people on earth ever happened again.
Somehow, I managed to keep my aching heart together and to read on. Yeah, to be honest, I did not only read on, but I did so with a feverish, nearly maniac intensity, that surprised me a bit. And I managed to find, what I was looking for: the answer to my question how McLuhan became McLuhan. Namely by having a differently wired brain and by wanting to please his terrific and demanding mother throughout his whole life. But my mind was also swarming with more and more questions, the more I read on and I started to feel like one of McLuhan’s students coming out of one of his classes: intrigued, fascinated, stimulated, but also irked, confused and very tired. In this period Douglas Coupland’s writing style and approach towards this book annoyed me quite a bit. I found it too superficial and bashing, too fast and fragmented, too mosaic-like. Just like a book written by McLuhan himself. It was not what I expected from a biography. In my opinion, a biography has to be something intimate, something that gives you a feeling of knowing the person you’re reading about quite well. In this case, it was the opposite: the more I read on, the less I felt I knew and understood about McLuhan’s work. So, I dropped the book more or less halfway through it, exhausted and still none the wiser.
The semester went on. Life too. My depression gave me a (small) break. I had some good days. Some less good days. Some fights. Some apologetic E-Mails I had to write. I partied hard when the end of the lessons finally arrived and studied even harder during exam period. In the meantime, “Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work” has been sitting silently in a corner of my desktop, waiting for me. August came and I decided to give it another try.
Okay, to be honest, this didn’t come completely out of the blue. Summer and vacation time is not an easy period for me. Finding a summer job when you cannot wait tables is a nightmare and so during summer I often have too much time to think about my future, my past, my problems and my parents, whose deaths fall into this time of the year. Currently, I’m going through another load of weird, depressing and nerve-wracking co-dependence and grief shit and I started to wonder if Marshall McLuhan ever managed to free himself of his overbearing mother Elsie and her expectations of him. So, I picked up this book again, hoping to find a little comfort and hope nestled within its pages. But, as I couldn’t remember where I had left oft, I decided to start from anew, this time trying to read it all in one night (because I didn’t want to sleep. Just four words for you: Nightmares. Of. My. Mother.)
This time around, I happened to appreciate Douglas Coupland’s writing style and approach to the subject much more. I liked the fact that he tried to make someone as shrewd and strange as Marshall McLuhan to appear a little more human and approachable. I caught on the author’s subtle and quirky type of humor and it made me smile to myself quite a few times. I got a clearer picture of who Marshall McLuhan was and why he thought the way, he thought, even though a lot of questions remained open. I would have liked to know more about McLuhan as a father, as a family man. And about those people that lived in his exorbitant shadow: his wife Corinne, his brother Maurice and his eldest son and co-worker, Eric. Especially Eric is mentioned more times towards the end of the book, but he always remains a very vague and shadowy character. It’s a pity.
I’m not sure if I understood much of McLuhan’s work and theories reading this book. Hell, I’m not even sure if I understood anything about McLuhan or communication during my studies so far. “Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work” certainly is not an introduction to his work. Douglas Coupland tries to explain a few things, like “the medium is the message”, the global village, or McLuhan’s theory of hot and cold media. But the truth is, I’m not even sure that people who spend their lives reading McLuhan get a full grasp on his work. So, I can’t blame neither Mr. Coupland, nor myself for failing in this, can I? But as Douglas Coupland mentioned too, “The Medium is the Message” is probably a much better (and hopefully easy to read) introduction to the Planet McLuhan.
Nonetheless, Douglas Coupland managed to create quite a full and fascinating picture of who this great man was. Some details were funny and interesting, others rather annoyed me, like the street directions in the middle of the book that seemed to have no sense, or the open product placement for McLuhan’s book taken directly from Amazon.
What prompted me to give this book a full five-star rating in the end was a rather personal story the author told. He compared Marshall McLuhan to his grandfather and it was this that made me realize why the fascination for a crusty old vehicle for new ideas is still unbroken, even nearly forty years after his death and it made me understand my own fascination for McLuhan a little better. McLuhan was a strange guy with lots of strange ideas. Most of them came true only after his death. He was an outsider, a medical and personal curiosum, someone who never fit in anywhere. He was the classical geeky, nerdy and insufferable clever kid in high school. And as such he became a holding center, a sort of an anti-hero for all the other shrewd, weird, differently wired, aliens from outer space kids that somehow managed to grow into adults and by destiny, by design or by disaster (in my case) started to look into this banal and fascinating thing that communication is.
So, thank you, Mr. Coupland. Boy-oh-boy, you wrote a bombastic book. A book that was able to inspire me, much like McLuhan inspired his students and co-workers. A book that brought back someone, who has been gone for a long time and has nearly been forgotten. However, I hope neither you nor Marshall McLuhan mind, if I now concentrate on something else for some time. Because all your talking about time and space put me in the mood to revisit some notions of physics and quantum mechanics (even if I hated physics back in high school). But, before I finish this review and put Marshall McLuhan back in the hole of my brain, where he came from, let me ask you one last question: Nearly forty years after his death, what do you think is left of his work?
August 13, 2012
After hearing Coupland talk about McLuhan on TTBOOK I wanted to read this right away. I also understood a lot more about Player One, his latest novel.
This work is fun and frames biographer as a kind of "determinism detective"—finding all the what-ifs and just-rights that made McLuhan into McLuhan. Growing up on the Canadian prairies, the over-ripe fruition of an ad-centric North America during his early professional career, Marshall's place on what we would now call the autism spectrum, and his anomalous brain-feeding arteries. Coupland keeps coming back to the stars-aligned confluence of events and circumstances and pathology that turned McLuhan into the weird, controversial figure he was: a stodgy old Canadian who hated new forms of electronic media yet was the first to actually study and theorize about them in a serious way.
It speaks of destiny, but in a clinical, data-heavy way. I'm not sure what I think of it yet, but undoubtedly this is (once again, Mr. Coupland, thanks) where we are headed in the way we think about the influencers of the recent past.
oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy
This work is fun and frames biographer as a kind of "determinism detective"—finding all the what-ifs and just-rights that made McLuhan into McLuhan. Growing up on the Canadian prairies, the over-ripe fruition of an ad-centric North America during his early professional career, Marshall's place on what we would now call the autism spectrum, and his anomalous brain-feeding arteries. Coupland keeps coming back to the stars-aligned confluence of events and circumstances and pathology that turned McLuhan into the weird, controversial figure he was: a stodgy old Canadian who hated new forms of electronic media yet was the first to actually study and theorize about them in a serious way.
It speaks of destiny, but in a clinical, data-heavy way. I'm not sure what I think of it yet, but undoubtedly this is (once again, Mr. Coupland, thanks) where we are headed in the way we think about the influencers of the recent past.
oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy
December 8, 2015
While described as a biography of Marshall McLuhan, this was a bit too much of a collection of uncritical praise for McLuhan. For example, the author repeats McLuhan's comment that the ear rather than the eye was the primary sensory organ before the 16th century; only then (with the advent of movable type and increasing use of written communication) did vision become primary. However, this doesn't agree with what we know about neurophysiology. Approximately 30% of the neurons in the cerebral cortex are associated with vision as opposed to about 3% for hearing. While this doesn't mean that vision is always primary, it suggests that McLuhan's statement about changes in the primary sensory organ should be taken with some skepticism, not repeated as fact. I would have enjoyed the book more, and perhaps had a better sense of how McLuhan fits in with current thinking, if the author had also been a bit more skeptical.
June 25, 2014
Coupland's conversational tone is fluid as ever, and entertaining in his trademark ADHD fashion. Like Microserfs and JPod, this book is a physical work of art. Pages are adorned with language experiments in consonants, vowels and anagrams. He pastes in quotes and AbeBooks book reviews of McLuhan's works. I think he goes a bit far including excerpts from his own writing, revealing his inherent narcissism. The book is a fun and short read, but not all that enlightening of its subject as far as biographies (are supposed to) go. I can't imagine Coupland going any further than Wikipedia to do his research. This book is more about Coupland than McLuhan. I admit, my rudimentary understanding of McLuhan's history might mean I am missing some clever jokes and insights, but I doubt it.
Read
November 7, 2011Coupland says McLuhan's writing is sometimes considered nearly unreadable and that was certainly my experience when I gave it a try. The surprising stuff about McLuhan in here is his devout Catholicism, his extra artery to his brain and how he's often mistaken for liking emerging electronic media when in fact he disliked it but found it interesting. Coupland overuses the phrase "tipping point" which makes a comparison between McLuhan and Gladwell spring to mine. Coupland's Generation X made a big impression on me when I once woke up after a night of drinking at friends house and had nothing to do while they continued sleeping but read it. The friend took so long to wake up that I ended up just borrowing the book without asking and reading it on the ten-mile walk across town to where I was staying. That was such a nice day.
Read
September 1, 2011I was enthusiastic about the book -- this writer on that subject -- but for some reason I couldn't get into it. And early on, I was confused why Coupland gave one date for MM's birth and then a few pages later gives a different date. Unless that's an inside joke I'm not getting (MM was literally born ahead of his time!, etc.) then it just bothered me as a reader. I bailed about 40 pp. later. Just wasn't feeling it. I still know next-to-nothing of his work!
May 11, 2018
Who knew a biography on someone you really didn't know much about or care much about could be so freaking interesting?! I thought it was fantastic. Not knowing much about McLuhan's work, I feel now like I understand it in a very basic way. But more importantly, Coupland paints the picture fully, of the times he lived in, his family and lifestyle influences, the academic setting, everything. It made me wish that Coupland would go write a bunch of other biographies so I could read them.
March 1, 2011
Excellent post-modern biography/mythology of the man with too much oxygen in his brain who saw things others couldn't and described them in ways people still argue over thirty years after his death. A joy to read, and a sorrow: Coupland's "Marshall" is that human, that accessible in this fine book.
April 22, 2012
I really liked the writing by the author. I also liked his taking a very complex subject (Marshall McLuhan) and presenting him in a more understandable way. He both lauds and unpacks and demystifies (and in a strange way - mystifies) - this very interesting, insightful, and complex man.
Want to read
October 26, 2014Second review I've seen: http://www.tnr.com/book/review/the-me... Not sure where the first came from.
March 10, 2020
Das war mit Abstand die einfühlsamste, unterhaltsamste, ehrliche, kreativste und unkonventionelle Biographie, die ich seit langem gelesen habe... und vermutlich die einzige, die ich bis zum Ende gelesen habe, weil sie nicht begann, mich nach dem Kindheitsstadium zu langweilen.
Warum? Coupland malt eine echte, lebendige Person mit dem jeweiligen Zeitgeist des Jahrzehnts: der Leser, selbst nicht aus dieser Zeit, ist immer im Geschehen dabei. "Stell dir vor du fliegst mit dem Flugzeug nach Toronto. Alle rauchen. Die Frauen reden über Antibabypillen. Jeder nimmt Pillen. (...)" - besser geht es nicht.
Coupland bricht die chronologische Erzählstruktur oft auf, erzählt in leichtem, kritischen, teils gezielt flapsigen, menschlichen Ton von einem ECHTEN Menschen. Marshall ist hier kein verstaubter, musealer Ausstellungsgegenstand mit Errungenschaften und Reisestationen seines Lebens, verkappt-geheiligter Medienguru; sondern ein passionierter, eckiger mitunter bis zum leichten Wahnsinn verschrobenen Denker.
Coupland spielt mit klug gesetzten Fußnoten, in die er seine eigenen Gedanken, weitergreifenden Zusammenhänge oder brilliante Anekdoten einbringt - ein perfekt gewürztes Achtgängemenü, bei dem für jede Stimmung etwas dabei, sowohl für den Leser als auch aus Marshalls Leben.
Das Buch bricht leicht erklärt auf, was Luhan eigentlich wirklich wichtig war, anstatt nur hohle Inhaltsangaben seiner Reden und Werken zu geben.
Auch der Konzeptionelle Kreativ-Ton des Buches hat mich echt überrascht: drei Überkapitel, die mit geflügelten Begriffen wie "return. escape." assoziative Bereiche aufmachen. Dazwischen allerlei kreative Layout-Ideen, Buchstabenspielereien; Auszüge aus Online-Buch-Verkäufen, Zitate und "Mediationen" am Ende nehmen das Konzept von "The medium is the Massage" ähnlich auf....
und das führt mich zum Fazit des Buches:
die Biografie will nicht bis ins kleinste Detail informativ sein, sondern zeigt sich auch künstlerisch-nachdenklich. Coupland bringt die Essenz eines Gedanken-Universums zu Papier, appeliert ans Menschliche, zeigt Ideen auf: ähnlich wie (aus seiner Sicht) McLuhan selbst nicht Doktrie lehrte, sondern seine Rezipienten sein persönliches Urteil selbst bilden lässt. Mehr denkanstoßende Erzählkunst... die mich zum ersten Mal verstehen lässt, wann mir Biographien gefallen:
nur dann, wenn man die Person wirklich SPÜREN kann. Und das hat Coupland für mich geschafft... mir ist es egal, ob es nun ein "akurates" Bild ist... oder das, das Coupland hatte. ... this is as real as it can ever become.
Warum? Coupland malt eine echte, lebendige Person mit dem jeweiligen Zeitgeist des Jahrzehnts: der Leser, selbst nicht aus dieser Zeit, ist immer im Geschehen dabei. "Stell dir vor du fliegst mit dem Flugzeug nach Toronto. Alle rauchen. Die Frauen reden über Antibabypillen. Jeder nimmt Pillen. (...)" - besser geht es nicht.
Coupland bricht die chronologische Erzählstruktur oft auf, erzählt in leichtem, kritischen, teils gezielt flapsigen, menschlichen Ton von einem ECHTEN Menschen. Marshall ist hier kein verstaubter, musealer Ausstellungsgegenstand mit Errungenschaften und Reisestationen seines Lebens, verkappt-geheiligter Medienguru; sondern ein passionierter, eckiger mitunter bis zum leichten Wahnsinn verschrobenen Denker.
Coupland spielt mit klug gesetzten Fußnoten, in die er seine eigenen Gedanken, weitergreifenden Zusammenhänge oder brilliante Anekdoten einbringt - ein perfekt gewürztes Achtgängemenü, bei dem für jede Stimmung etwas dabei, sowohl für den Leser als auch aus Marshalls Leben.
Das Buch bricht leicht erklärt auf, was Luhan eigentlich wirklich wichtig war, anstatt nur hohle Inhaltsangaben seiner Reden und Werken zu geben.
Auch der Konzeptionelle Kreativ-Ton des Buches hat mich echt überrascht: drei Überkapitel, die mit geflügelten Begriffen wie "return. escape." assoziative Bereiche aufmachen. Dazwischen allerlei kreative Layout-Ideen, Buchstabenspielereien; Auszüge aus Online-Buch-Verkäufen, Zitate und "Mediationen" am Ende nehmen das Konzept von "The medium is the Massage" ähnlich auf....
und das führt mich zum Fazit des Buches:
die Biografie will nicht bis ins kleinste Detail informativ sein, sondern zeigt sich auch künstlerisch-nachdenklich. Coupland bringt die Essenz eines Gedanken-Universums zu Papier, appeliert ans Menschliche, zeigt Ideen auf: ähnlich wie (aus seiner Sicht) McLuhan selbst nicht Doktrie lehrte, sondern seine Rezipienten sein persönliches Urteil selbst bilden lässt. Mehr denkanstoßende Erzählkunst... die mich zum ersten Mal verstehen lässt, wann mir Biographien gefallen:
nur dann, wenn man die Person wirklich SPÜREN kann. Und das hat Coupland für mich geschafft... mir ist es egal, ob es nun ein "akurates" Bild ist... oder das, das Coupland hatte. ... this is as real as it can ever become.
July 2, 2021
Humanizes the Man Both Providing and Updating His Relevance for Our Times - This version of Coupland's book seems to be very similar to the one published the previous year in Canada. Under either title, this work is most helpful and revealing in making what was occurring in McLuhan's life during its various stages very tangible and real.
Succeeding excellent biographies by Gordon and Marchand, it seeks to complement the earlier books to provide us with a sense of McLuhan, the man. With this aim, Coupland seems to concentrate on more differentiating and lesser known aspects about McLuhan and his work.
The author treats McLuhan's distinctive Canadian heritage, his Cambridge involvement with Practical Criticism and the ancient Trivium as well as ways this exposure led him to develop a "grammar" of technology and electronic media.
This reviewer found mention of McLuhan's characteristics and health surprising as well as revealing in appreciating his later work. Copeland refers to McLuhan autistic tendencies, unusual arteriole blood flow, family medical history along with the toll of mini seizures and strokes during the late 1960's.
More specifically, the then longest neurological surgery in history to remove a brain tumor in 1967 resulted in McLuhan's loss of capacity and weakness after that point. Such developments led to a life slow down for McLuhan after the breakneck pace of 50 plus speeches and appearances annually in the years following the publication of his most well known works.
Of particular interest to this reviewer were the parts where Coupland deals with McLuhan's unconventional scholarship and his difficulty in relating how business executives could implement his suggestions as well as what results would be achieved. The author emphasizes how McLuhan concentrated on the longer term impacts of media and technology with little attention to any apparent practical applications.
During most of his career McLuhan foretold of changes that were not overnight phenomena; his concerns were changes in cognition, cultural shifts, and providing a sense of the future rather than prescriptions or predictions. He goes on to discuss ways McLuhan evolved rules and laws for media and their effects that have become more clearly prescient and relevant.
Several excerpts from Coupland's novels help show parallels with McLuhan insights with recent media and international societal developments such as the "Arab Spring" in the Middle East, our internet influenced sense of time and varying generational responses to digital technology.
Read this book to learn something of McLuhan's work and a sense of the man.
Succeeding excellent biographies by Gordon and Marchand, it seeks to complement the earlier books to provide us with a sense of McLuhan, the man. With this aim, Coupland seems to concentrate on more differentiating and lesser known aspects about McLuhan and his work.
The author treats McLuhan's distinctive Canadian heritage, his Cambridge involvement with Practical Criticism and the ancient Trivium as well as ways this exposure led him to develop a "grammar" of technology and electronic media.
This reviewer found mention of McLuhan's characteristics and health surprising as well as revealing in appreciating his later work. Copeland refers to McLuhan autistic tendencies, unusual arteriole blood flow, family medical history along with the toll of mini seizures and strokes during the late 1960's.
More specifically, the then longest neurological surgery in history to remove a brain tumor in 1967 resulted in McLuhan's loss of capacity and weakness after that point. Such developments led to a life slow down for McLuhan after the breakneck pace of 50 plus speeches and appearances annually in the years following the publication of his most well known works.
Of particular interest to this reviewer were the parts where Coupland deals with McLuhan's unconventional scholarship and his difficulty in relating how business executives could implement his suggestions as well as what results would be achieved. The author emphasizes how McLuhan concentrated on the longer term impacts of media and technology with little attention to any apparent practical applications.
During most of his career McLuhan foretold of changes that were not overnight phenomena; his concerns were changes in cognition, cultural shifts, and providing a sense of the future rather than prescriptions or predictions. He goes on to discuss ways McLuhan evolved rules and laws for media and their effects that have become more clearly prescient and relevant.
Several excerpts from Coupland's novels help show parallels with McLuhan insights with recent media and international societal developments such as the "Arab Spring" in the Middle East, our internet influenced sense of time and varying generational responses to digital technology.
Read this book to learn something of McLuhan's work and a sense of the man.
November 18, 2023
This is not a book on McLuhan's theories. Sure, the basics are discussed, but McLuhan's life, the context behind him writing what he did is at focus. It isn't even a very serious book. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it can be playful and fun, but at other times it is cringey and makes one prone to dismissing the book. One thing in this vein is where Coupland mentions that Wikipedia was his main source when writing the book. It does offer a page of reflection on the accuracy of Wikipedia and some speculation on what McLuhan might have thought about it, but it is also groan inducing. There's also some very milquetoast takes reflecting on things like the tech industry or politics. That's my criticism and why I can't give it a five star rating. What this book is, however, is a very fun biography written by a novelist. As such it deserves a four star rating. It offered a very enjoyable use of time on a long train ride. It is a fun storyteller presenting a life of a fascinating individual. Would I have enjoyed it as much if I wasn't a fan of McLuhan? Would I have become interested in his work? I don't know, but I would definitely recommend it to people who are familiar with some of his ideas and writing. It is a capable storyteller covering the life of a fascinating individual. And what is really cool is how he played around with the format, including transcriptions of 2010 internet pages on McLuhan on it, preserving a certain zeitgeist. I like to think McLuhan would have appreciated that. And the book made me want to read all the other books mentioned in it that I haven't already. That is definitely a good sign. It is worth checking out.
August 2, 2019
The Biography is the Message
Repackaged with a catchier title “Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work!” (the famous line given to McLuhan in his cameo in Woody Allen's Annie Hall), the only difference between the two works is that this edition was published as part of a series on notable Canadians and contains a series introduction by philosopher and social pundit John Ralston Saul. Coupland, a pop culture icon himself (Microserfs, Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything) and a Canadian, was an appropriate choice of author.
However it is a journeyman biography, spiced or padded (depending on your pov) with various anagram generated versions of McLuhan's name and well known sayings, some choice McLuhan quotes, a couple of excerpts from Coupland's own Generation A: A Novel, and some reminiscences of the author's own thoughts on the subject and his theories. The basic message is that though McLuhan captured the essence of the information age, he strongly disliked it. Rather than being an avante guard liberal, he was a conservative curmudgeon, a staunch Catholic with a touch of misanthropy, something his followers never caught on to.
IMV a light read, the sort of thing that middle school students can go through and write a book report on. Coupland admits in the book that he picked up a lot of the biographical material from Wikipedia and repackaged it. Nothing unusual or outstanding. Though I have no specific alternate recommendation, try something else on the topic.
Repackaged with a catchier title “Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work!” (the famous line given to McLuhan in his cameo in Woody Allen's Annie Hall), the only difference between the two works is that this edition was published as part of a series on notable Canadians and contains a series introduction by philosopher and social pundit John Ralston Saul. Coupland, a pop culture icon himself (Microserfs, Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything) and a Canadian, was an appropriate choice of author.
However it is a journeyman biography, spiced or padded (depending on your pov) with various anagram generated versions of McLuhan's name and well known sayings, some choice McLuhan quotes, a couple of excerpts from Coupland's own Generation A: A Novel, and some reminiscences of the author's own thoughts on the subject and his theories. The basic message is that though McLuhan captured the essence of the information age, he strongly disliked it. Rather than being an avante guard liberal, he was a conservative curmudgeon, a staunch Catholic with a touch of misanthropy, something his followers never caught on to.
IMV a light read, the sort of thing that middle school students can go through and write a book report on. Coupland admits in the book that he picked up a lot of the biographical material from Wikipedia and repackaged it. Nothing unusual or outstanding. Though I have no specific alternate recommendation, try something else on the topic.
May 16, 2017
Coupland seems clearly to have intended this as provocative rather than encyclopedic. He's out to stimulate the reader's thinking as well as tell the reader his. His own thinking is heavily neurological, and in the absence of any confirmatory neurological evidence it remains speculative. However, it does concentrate on an aspect of personality that has been grossly neglected by biographers, and helps temper one's enthusiasm about conventional biographies.
But conventional biographies do have their uses (they're sources of facts, for one thing). I suggest supplementing a reading of this with a reading of a conventional biography -- I've only read Marchand's, but that is an excellent conventional biography, and reading it along with Coupland's would flesh out both his and Marchand's ideas.
I shouldn't leave the impression that the book is entirely speculative. Coupland provides a good introduction to McLuhan's ideas, and I expect this book has actually inspired people to read McLuhan, which to me is a Very Good Thing. I've read (or attempted to read) much longer conventional biographies of other people that told me far less about their subjects than Coupland tells you about McLuhan.
But conventional biographies do have their uses (they're sources of facts, for one thing). I suggest supplementing a reading of this with a reading of a conventional biography -- I've only read Marchand's, but that is an excellent conventional biography, and reading it along with Coupland's would flesh out both his and Marchand's ideas.
I shouldn't leave the impression that the book is entirely speculative. Coupland provides a good introduction to McLuhan's ideas, and I expect this book has actually inspired people to read McLuhan, which to me is a Very Good Thing. I've read (or attempted to read) much longer conventional biographies of other people that told me far less about their subjects than Coupland tells you about McLuhan.
January 18, 2020
McLuhan is a guy whose quotes are more famous than him. I used to skim his books when I was studying design. It has been great to revisit him and his ideas so many years after graduating. He was kind of a renaissance man of the mid 20th century.
I always feel agitated when media studies is dismissed as a genuine academic discipline. Literary Criticism was also dismissed when it first entered campuses. If you reflect on how much time we spend on media and little time people spend reading books then you'd realise it's an important area.
McLuhan predicted the internet about 30 years before it happened, but he was no media savvy techie - quite the opposite. I was fascinated to read about his background in elocution and literary criticism. Other things which were revealed along the way were his religious beliefs and his unique physiology.
I read this on a whim because I used to read a lot of Coupland books and always found him to be a deep thinker. I wasn't disappointed and read this book in one go.
If you question the effects of media and especially the internet, if you have a critical view on society, if you are interested on how culture affects us... then this is worth a read.
I always feel agitated when media studies is dismissed as a genuine academic discipline. Literary Criticism was also dismissed when it first entered campuses. If you reflect on how much time we spend on media and little time people spend reading books then you'd realise it's an important area.
McLuhan predicted the internet about 30 years before it happened, but he was no media savvy techie - quite the opposite. I was fascinated to read about his background in elocution and literary criticism. Other things which were revealed along the way were his religious beliefs and his unique physiology.
I read this on a whim because I used to read a lot of Coupland books and always found him to be a deep thinker. I wasn't disappointed and read this book in one go.
If you question the effects of media and especially the internet, if you have a critical view on society, if you are interested on how culture affects us... then this is worth a read.
Read
September 17, 2020Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work.
A biography of a ground breaking Canadian technological prophet written by a ground breaking Canadian technological prophet. It's really interesting to read the perspective of McLuhan written by someone with so much in common.
This doesn't try and dissect his writing or theories but instead gives the context around those works. Some fascinating insight into his love of puns, brain make up and illness and how these all influenced his work, along with the other people around him within academia.
A fascinating, short and uniquely constructed biography. As always with Doug Coupland a very contemporary and creative approach applied to a familiar medium. Who better to write this than a former Google Artist in Residence.
This, and all McLuhan's writing should be required reading for anyone working in digital media.
A biography of a ground breaking Canadian technological prophet written by a ground breaking Canadian technological prophet. It's really interesting to read the perspective of McLuhan written by someone with so much in common.
This doesn't try and dissect his writing or theories but instead gives the context around those works. Some fascinating insight into his love of puns, brain make up and illness and how these all influenced his work, along with the other people around him within academia.
A fascinating, short and uniquely constructed biography. As always with Doug Coupland a very contemporary and creative approach applied to a familiar medium. Who better to write this than a former Google Artist in Residence.
This, and all McLuhan's writing should be required reading for anyone working in digital media.
July 24, 2023
Auf einer längeren Bahnfahrt einfach so weginhaliert, voller Faszination für den so widersprüchlichen Mann, der im Zentrum der Biographie steht; wie für die Biographie als popkulturelles Kunstwerk selbst.
Douglas Coupland kann vermutlich sogar das Telefonbuch in ein sprühend-spannendes Zeitgeist-Werk verwandeln (wobei er den Zeitgeist der Dekaden, die er beschreibt, mit den zeitgeistigen Mitteln seines schreibenden Jetzt abbildet, was schon an sich Kunst ist).
Den eher verquast-genialisch-antisozialen und unglaublich humorlosen Marshall McLuhan vermag Coupland, ebenfalls genialischerweise, nachgerade sympathisch und zugänglich darzustellen - und gleichzeitig zu vermitteln, daß McLuhan genau das nun bestimmt nicht war.
Selbst wer nie etwas *von* McLuhan lesen wird, sollte definitiv etwas *über* ihn lesen: diese Biographie!
Douglas Coupland kann vermutlich sogar das Telefonbuch in ein sprühend-spannendes Zeitgeist-Werk verwandeln (wobei er den Zeitgeist der Dekaden, die er beschreibt, mit den zeitgeistigen Mitteln seines schreibenden Jetzt abbildet, was schon an sich Kunst ist).
Den eher verquast-genialisch-antisozialen und unglaublich humorlosen Marshall McLuhan vermag Coupland, ebenfalls genialischerweise, nachgerade sympathisch und zugänglich darzustellen - und gleichzeitig zu vermitteln, daß McLuhan genau das nun bestimmt nicht war.
Selbst wer nie etwas *von* McLuhan lesen wird, sollte definitiv etwas *über* ihn lesen: diese Biographie!
January 3, 2018
It's a nice well written essay that reads with ease and quickly. If you expect a deep detailed explanation of McLuhan theory you will be disappointed. However, this is far from saying that this book is not insightful. The author understands McLuhan and his work and because of that he can deliver such a succinct overview of his most important ideas, using dynamic, humorous and even ironic style. This book is about McLuhan as it is about the author although Coupland skillfully (and intentionally) rests in shadows popping out now and there in the narrative. This is gives the work some "soul" and authenticity increasing the value of the observations. Everyone interested in life of McLuhan should add this book to reading list.
September 9, 2017
Douglas Coupland was a really inspired choice to write this autobiography of the man who quite literally invented media criticism in Western Civilization, given how much novels like Generation X and Microserfs helped define and contextualize the changes that technology was having on the lives of people in the end of the 20th century. The book wisely avoids looking too deeply into some of the more esoteric of McLuhans work and instead is mostly a respectful look at how McLuhans rather odd nature and upbringing gave him a unique perspective on how humans live their lives around communication. I really enjoyed reading this.
August 9, 2020
A unique biography of a unique individual by a unique author. One of the most offbeat biographies that I have ever read. Coupland presents McLuhan's life in probably the manner in which McLuhan behaved, randomly and somewhat odd. I remember hearing about McLuhan's activities when I attended the University of Toronto in the early 1970s, but those were "artsy" things that we people in science didn't have time for. It's only now that I regret the chances that I missed going to hear him speak. Someday I will read a biography of Douglas Coupland.
August 10, 2022
3.5. Entertaining and insightful, but the book could have dug a little deeper into the work that shaped Media Theory in the 20th century. McLuhan's major ideas are presented in a mostly uncritical light (though some shortcomings are mentioned) while Coupland does present how this communication visionary was perceived simultaneously and contradictorily as a genius, a prophet, a bad writer who made no effort to cater to his audience, a sell-out nonetheless, and someone who often peddled in untestable theories. It all warranted a bit more explanation.
December 26, 2020
Pocas veces se produce un encuentro tan afortunado entre una personalidad y su biógrafo. Tanto por su estilo como por su enfoque, Coupland es el biógrafo atípico que requería una figura con la presciencia y el pensamiento poco convencional de McLuhan. Este libro ha sido una de mis más gratificantes lecturas de 2020.
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