One of the Bathroom Books Reviews
Under the circumstances, it’s good news that this book by Marshall McLuhan is mostly pictures; but have no doubt, there is a message along with the massage.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, “man” had no language with which to communicate. Most obvious needs were eventually signaled by slightly nuanced grunts of various intensity. The medium, grunting, controlled how primitive people lived, moved and had their being. I hate to imagine what a practically primordial massage might have been like.
As one by one, words were formed, the social environment was dramatically altered. The strong could now give clearer instructions (orders) to those less able to object.
Someone started a senseless scribble, and soon the writing on the wall of the family cave spelled the end of secrecy. A small but growing public began to share information. Soon (a relative word meaning hundreds, thousands of years in this case) there were those who wrote on rudimentary paper, documenting events of the times and proclamations of rulers and prophets. Then came Johannes Gutenberg. Wow! That really changed things.
Just imagine. Where once, a person could share thoughts with a neighbor, now moveable type made shared information portable. Where new ideas were once local, they were now shared wherever humans found a way to travel. To quote our hero Marshall McLuhan “Man could now inspire – and conspire.”
For those of us of a certain (or even uncertain) age, it’s sometimes difficult to remember that the internet-age for most did not really begin until the 21st century. Yes, I know, universities around the world joined some governmental agencies in storing and sharing information on what were labelled networks. So-called social media, Friendster (2002) and Myspace were replaced by now ubiquitous Facebook, all since the beginning of this, the 21st century. However, it was 1962 when McLuhan burst on the scene with Gutenberg Galaxy offering his prediction the coming electronic media would create a Global Village. When Understanding Media followed in 1964 readers at first found difficulty accepting the theory that the method by which information was supplied was more important than the words or ideas themselves. It sent many searching for long lost copies of their Funk and Wagnalls.
In order to please and teach some of us mere mortals, McLuhan provided “The Medium is the MASSAGE. Don’t be fooled by all the pictures in this there really is a message in the Massage.