On the Nature of Media: Essays, 1952-1978

by Marshall McLuhan, Richard Cavell (Editor)

Media studies has been catching up with McLuhan over the last 50 years. These essays are drawn from themost productive quarter-century of his career (1952-1978), anddemonstrate his abiding interest in the materiality of mediation, from comic books to fashion, from technology to biology.Anchoring these essays are four meditations on the work of hisgreat predecessor, Harold adams innis, who first proposed thecentrality of mediation to every facet of our daily lives. McLuhan took this task literally; rejecting the specialist approachof academic study, he published in mainstream magazinessuch as Look and Harpers Bazaar on topics such as sexualityand the fashion industry, in each case bringing to these topics insights that remain startlinglyfresh. The essays offer a rare glimpse into a great mind as it works out the implications of theeffects of media not only on what we know but on how we are coming to understand our being.

253 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2014

About the author

Herbert Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media theory. He studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. He began his teaching career as a professor of English at several universities in the United States and Canada before moving to the University of Toronto in 1946, where he remained for the rest of his life. He is known as the "father of media studies".
McLuhan coined the expression "the medium is the message" in the first chapter in his Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man and the term global village. He predicted the World Wide Web almost 30 years before it was invented. He was a fixture in media discourse in the late 1960s, though his influence began to wane in the early 1970s. In the years following his death, he continued to be a controversial figure in academic circles. However, with the arrival of the Internet and the World Wide Web, interest was renewed in his work and perspectives.

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent sampler of McLuhan's thoughts over the course of his career. You can see a very clear trajectory and evolution of thought across each essay. A must-read for anyone into McLuhan and a great place for someone to start