Digital McLuhan

by Paul Levinson

Marshall McLuhan died on the last day of 1980, on the doorstep of the personal computer revolution. Yet McLuhan's ideas anticipated a world of media in motion, and its impact on our lives on the dawn of the new millennium.
Paul Levinson examines why McLuhan's theories about media are more important to us today than when they were first written, and why the Wired generation is now turning to McLuhan's work to understand the global village in the digital age.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Paul Levinson, PhD, is an author, professor, singer-songwriter, media commentator, podcaster, and publisher. His first novel, The Silk Code, won the Locus Award for best first science fiction novel of 1999. Entertainment Weekly called his 2006 novel, The Plot to Save Socrates, “challenging fun”. Unburning Alexandria, sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates, was published in 2013. Chronica - the third novel in the Sierra Waters time travel trilogy - followed in 2014. His 1995 award-nominated novelette, "The Chronology Protection Case," was made into a short film, now on Amazon Prime Video. His 2022 alternate history short story about The Beatles, "It's Real Life," was made into a radioplay, streaming free, and an audiobook, in 2023, and it won the Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fiction. "It's Real Life" was expanded into a novel, It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles, and published in 2024. Paul Levinson was President of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA), 1998-2001. His nine nonfiction books on the history and future of media -- Human Replay: A Theory of The Evolution of Media (1979/2017), Mind at Large: Knowing in the Technological Age (1988), Electronic Chronicles (1992), Learning Cyberspace (1995), The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution (1998), Digital McLuhan (1999), RealSpace (2003), Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2012) -- have been translated into 16 languages around the world, and have been reviewed in The New York Times, Wired, and major newspapers and magazines. Two shorter books, McLuhan in an Age of Social Media and Fake News in Real Context, were published in 2015-2016, and are frequently updated. Levinson appears on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and numerous other television and radio shows and podcasts. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was reissued on CD and remastered vinyl and is available on Bandcamp and iTunes. His first new album since Twice Upon A Rhyme -- Welcome Up: Songs of Space Time -- was released by Old Bear Records on CD and digital, and Light in the Attic Records on vinyl, in 2020. Levinson is Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in NYC.

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Reviews

[Mili · Rating 5 out of 5]

El problema con McLuhan es que se trata de un teórico que aborda los problemas más complejos en la vida cotidiana con un lenguaje muy simple, lo que resulta engañoso al lector inexperto, que creerá comprender todo luego de una primera lectura.

McLuhan es un teórico que amaba escribir entre líneas, y Paul Levinson es uno de los pocos autores capaces de leerlo como corresponde, explicarlo y vincular sus teorías con la modernidad de manera fiel a los escritos del autor.

Un gran libro para comprender la modernidad desde la visión de la Ecología de Medios.

[Ernest Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

McLuhan's legacy lives into the digital age, even though the media have mutated. Maybe that makes it even more so. And this is from 1999 . . .

[Dirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Levinson's fabulous is an excellent introduction to McLuhan's work and influence on academic and public debate about the impact of media on society as well as a forward looking book providing us with an excellent starting point to analyse the impact of the Internet and social media on society and social relations. Highly recommended read!

[Moments of Kabir]

I learned more about the truth of interdependence just from knowing about this book. I look forward to reading it.