In case it appears that I made a monster typo or my sense of humour is even more askew than usual, here is the book in question. I did my best to wipe off the coffee mug rings but the photograph is as is and un-retouched. The title is more often misquoted than any I can think of. Could McLuhan have been making some point here?
Professor McLuhan, not giving to massages I’m afraid, ;-) wrote the
bible on Communication and the Media. He was something of a revolutionary in his field. I read him in my late teens and remebering going WOW! YES! YES! YES! He never gave never me a massage either…but I got his message. LOL
I had the worst possible introduction to McLuhan for the worst possible reason: I despised those who introduced him to me.
This closed my mind and affected my attitude until I began to read him and think for myself. His books are now not always easy to find and I am glad of those I have on my shelves, but everyone with a hope of “understanding media” should drink from the source.
Thank you for your comment, Gwen,
That was unfortunate for you Russel. Many a brilliant student has been ruined by a careless teacher. Mercifully, I was a precocious
reader and consumed whole libraries so thirsty was I to feed my
brain and satisfy my soul. I didn’t read to escape my world, I read to escape into other worlds. And guess what? I turned into an author.
I still have my copies of McLuhan. But you “can’t go home again.”
So I rarely re-visit my dog eared, much annotated books.
I’ve always read with a pencil in hand, making any book I own pretty worthless unless it is one of many of my “special” books that are either first editions and/or signed by their authors.
I don’t so much read “authors” Russell as I do “subject” matter.
And that is everything from Aarvark to Zoology.
Sad to say, that my vision is dimming, the print grows ever smaller and the Internet ever larger. Sigh.
Professor McLuhan, not giving to massages I’m afraid, ;-) wrote the
bible on Communication and the Media. He was something of a revolutionary in his field. I read him in my late teens and remebering going WOW! YES! YES! YES! He never gave never me a massage either…but I got his message. LOL
I had the worst possible introduction to McLuhan for the worst possible reason: I despised those who introduced him to me.
This closed my mind and affected my attitude until I began to read him and think for myself. His books are now not always easy to find and I am glad of those I have on my shelves, but everyone with a hope of “understanding media” should drink from the source.
Thank you for your comment, Gwen,
That was unfortunate for you Russel. Many a brilliant student has been ruined by a careless teacher. Mercifully, I was a precocious
reader and consumed whole libraries so thirsty was I to feed my
brain and satisfy my soul. I didn’t read to escape my world, I read to escape into other worlds. And guess what? I turned into an author.
I still have my copies of McLuhan. But you “can’t go home again.”
So I rarely re-visit my dog eared, much annotated books.
I’ve always read with a pencil in hand, making any book I own pretty worthless unless it is one of many of my “special” books that are either first editions and/or signed by their authors.
I don’t so much read “authors” Russell as I do “subject” matter.
And that is everything from Aarvark to Zoology.
Sad to say, that my vision is dimming, the print grows ever smaller and the Internet ever larger. Sigh.