W. Terrence Gordon Boeken

This reissue marks the thirtieth anniversary (1964-1994) of McLuhan's classic expose on the state of the then emerging phenomenon of mass media. Terms and phrases such as "the global village" and "the medium is the message" are now part of the lexicon, and McLuhan's theories continue to challenge our sensibilities and our assumptions about how and what we communicate. There has been a notable resurgence of interest in McLuhan's work in recent years, fueled by the Internet and growing competition and confluence among cable, telephone, wireless and other telecommunications technologies, resulting in new media models and information ecologies. In a new introduction to this edition of Understanding Media, Harper's editor Lewis Lapham reevaluates McLuhan's work in the light of the technological as well as the political and social changes that have occurred in the last part of this century.--From publisher description

Gordon's biography paints a vivid portrait of Marshall McLuhan, highlighting his significant role in the cultural upheaval of the 1960s and the development of his groundbreaking ideas about media. It chronicles McLuhan's journey from his early life in Edmonton to his education at Cambridge and a teaching career in the U.S., culminating in his influential work at the University of Toronto. The narrative captures his enduring passion for learning and the impact he had on those around him, presenting McLuhan as a pivotal figure of the 20th century.

Marshall McLuhan was one of the most brilliant and original thinkers of the 20th century. He was so far ahead of his time that he predicted the future and offered a critique of human behavior in a media saturated world that is perhaps more valuable in today’s Internet age than it was in his own time. McLuhan pioneered the study of Media, unified Art and Science, and warned us about the perils of a televised, computerized, famous-for-15-minutes, social media world where we would live in each other’s faces, and become so alike, so isolated, so anonymous that violence would become a scream of identity, a way of saying, “I am not invisible.” McLuhan tried to teach us to guard against these dehumanizing, debasing effects of technology, and a thousand other things, but we got reality television anyway. The recent centennial celebration of McLuhan’s life and the re-release of his books has led to a surge of new interest in his thinking and teachings. McLuhan For Beginners provides an essential introduction that is clear and comprehensive, easy to understand and remember. It is full of wise and witty art by Susan Willmarth that is a perfect match to Terrence Gordon’s writing. McLuhan envisioned the media generated Global Village before it existed, and no one since McLuhan has described its allure and pitfalls better.

Presents McLuhan's predictions of dramatic technological innovations that have changed how we communicate.

Linguistics For Beginners is the first book to ever make the arcane labors of linguistics accessible to general readers. It begins with a lucid definition of language and proceeds to examine how it becomes the subject matter of linguistics. Key topics include the contrast between writing and speech, and elementary lessons in analyses ranging from simple sounds to entire sentences. Absurd fictions such as Eskimos having hundreds of words for snow are exploded, and the borderlands between linguistics and philosophy are investigated. Linguistics For Beginners teaches concise lessons using wit and whimsy making for a memorable learning experience. The reader will learn about language acquisition, ancient languages, little-known languages, tonal and whistle languages, linguistic engineering, structuralism, language origins, the anthropological approach to linguistics, kinship semantics, color lexicons, geographical linguistics, and much more! Linguistics For Beginners is the key tool for linguistic students of any level.

Provides a creative and accessible examination of Marshall McLuhan?s major works and ideas.

The book delves into the evolution of lexical semantics from a historical perspective, tracing its development from the nineteenth century to modern linguistics. It highlights the transition to a synchronic approach and its implications for both descriptive and theoretical semantics. The analysis distinguishes between European and American structural linguistics and examines various competing semantic models within transformational generative grammar. Key scholars such as Ferdinand de Saussure, Leonard Bloomfield, and Martin Joos are discussed in detail, showcasing their contributions to the field.