index

acoustic space, 31, 48

advertising, 12, 25, 99-102, 120-21

ages-of-man theory (McLuhan), 33

Alice in Wonderland, 38

Allen, Woody, 36

alphabet, the, 30

phonetic, 68-70

amputations, caused by technological media, 56-57

Annie Hall (film), 15, 36

archetype, meaning of, 108-9, 113

art, 86, 118-21

functioning of, in McLuhan’s world, 78-80

assembly lines, 32, 70

audiac (dental device), 61

automation, 38


bicycles, 43

Blondie, 116

books, linear vs. mosaic/multidimensional functioning of, 11-14, 53-54, 102, 107

Bringing Up Father, 116

Browning, Robert, 71


Cadmus, myth of, 70, 112

Cambridge University (England), 17, 18, 23, 24

Capp, Al, 117

cars, 40, 43, 76-77, 125, 129

Cartesian view of the universe, 32

cartoons, 52

Chesterton, C. K., 23

Chinese writing, 69

chronological narrative, 32

city, the, 38

Clark Kent, 115

cliché, meaning of, 108-13

clocks, 39

closure, and television, 93-95

clothing, 43

Coca-Cola, advertising, 120

Colville, Alex, 119

comic strips, 12, 25, 114-17

computers, 43, 73, 83, 103, 124

Congreve, William, 102

context, 19-20

cool media, 50-52, 53, 62, 117

Culture Is Our Business (McLuhan), 101-2


Dagwood, 15, 116

definition, high vs. low, 50-53

Dery, Mark, 8, 85

drugs (as tetrad), 132


Educom Review, 8

electricity, 65, 80

electric light, 47

electronic media, vs. mechanical media, 57-58, 73, 82-83, 84, 103. See also television

Eliot, T. S., 22, 102

Elliot, George P., 4

Explorations magazine, 26

extension (law of media), 123, 124, 128-32

extensions of our body, media as, 43, 55-56, 59-61


feedforward (Richards), 22

Fiore, Quentin, 85

fire, 81

Fischl, Eric, 119

five senses, 52, 60. See also sense ratios

Flint, Alan, WOUND (art), 36

football, 39

French symbolist poets, 22, 79-80, 82

From Cliché to Archetype (McLuhan, with Wilfred Watson), 8, 107-13


Gingrich, Newt, 10

global village, 6, 58, 73, 90, 103-6

Gossage, Howard, 101

Greek mythology, 70

Gutenberg, Johannes, 29

The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (McLuhan), 8, 12, 28-32,53


high definition medium, 50-51

high-rise apartment (as tetrad), 132

Hitler, Adolf, 39

hot media, 50-52, 62, 75

housing, 43


Idea Consultants Company, 26-27

industrial society, 32, 58

information transmitted by media, 51, 73

Innis, Harold, 22

internal combustion engine, 41


Jiggs, 116

Journal of Irreproducible Results, 40

Joyce, James, 15, 22, 80, 102, 112, 113


Keaton, Diane, 36

Keynes, John Maynard, 41

Kroker, Arthur, 118


language:

and money, 74-75

and Pentecostal experience, 81-83

Lapham, Lewis, 9, 42, 84, 100

Laws of Media: The New Science (McLuhan, with Eric McLuhan), 8, 122-32

Lear, King, 38

Leavis, F. R., 22

lectures, 52

Lewis, Wyndham, 22

Li’l Abner, 117

linear, vs. multidimensional perception, 11-14, 31-32, 53-54, 102, 107

literary criticism, Richards’ approach to, 18

Little Orphan Annie, 114

Lord Greystoke, 115

low definition medium, 50-51, 53


MAD magazine, 38

Marx, Karl, 41

Masson, André, 119

McLuhan, Eric, 122

McLuhan, Marshall:

articles by, 141-43

biographical events, 17, 23

books by, 139-41

Canadian Governor-General Award (1962), 28

critics and public opinion of, 133

death, 134

influences on, 18-22

overview of ideas, 11-14

play about, 16

teaching positions, 15-16, 23-24

McLuhan Hot and Cool (ed. Stearn), 24, 34, 105

The Meaning of Meaning (Richards, with C. K. Ogden), 19

The Mechanical Bride (McLuhan), 8, 12, 23, 25, 94, 101, 115, 120

mechanical media, vs. electronic media, 57-58, 73, 82-83, 84, 103

media, 45-48

classifications of, 50-53

controlling via understanding, 48, 55, 63-66

as extensions of body/mind, 43, 55-56, 59-61

interplay of, 45, 63-67

laws of, 122-32

mechanical vs. electronic, 57-58, 73, 82-83, 84, 103

and message, 44-45, 55

as metaphors, 71-73

overheated, 58, 62

power of, 42, 44, 45, 47-48, 55-56, 64

media-mates, 45. See also media, interplay of

media singles, 46-47

media tetrads, 128-32

“The Medium” (play), 16

The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects (McLuhan, with Quentin Fiore), 85-87

message, and medium, 44-45, 55

money and language, 74-75

Montagu, Ashley, 102

mosaic writing and reading, 11-14, 53-54, 102, 107

movies, 52


Narcissus, myth of, 55, 118, 119, 121

Nashe, Thomas, 24

Nelis, Tom, 16

Newsweek magazine, 2-3, 53

Newtonian view of the universe, 32

New York Theater Workshop, 16


obsolescence (law of media), 123, 125, 128-32

Ogden, C. K., 19

optical scanners, 67

overheated media, 58, 62


panic ads, 120-21

panic art, 118-19

Pentecostal experience, 81-83

perspective (in art), 32

phonetic alphabet, vs. non-phonetic alphabet, 68-70

photographs, 52

Playboy magazine, 103

Poe, Edgar Allen, “Descent into the Maelstrom”, 63-64

Polanyi, Karl, 102

politics, and television, 88, 90-92

Pound, Ezra, 22

printed word, vs. spoken word, 30-32, 33, 48-49, 52, 65, 84

printing press, 29-31

print media, vs. television, 87-88

probes, 34-36

clichés as, 111, 113

radio, 49, 52, 66, 130

Reader’s Digest, 37

Renaissance Italy, 38

retrieval (law of media), 123, 126, 128-32

reversal (law of media), 123, 127, 128-32

Richards, I. A., 18-22

Roman Catholicism, 23

demystification of Latin mass in, 62


St. Louis University, 23

satellites, earth-orbiting, 39, 129

schizophrenia, 38

seminars, 52

sense ratios, 59-61, 66, 94-95

senses, engagement of, by media, 52, 60.

See also sense ratios

slang (as tetrad), 132

social consciousness, and television, 88, 90-92

sound barrier, 65

spoken word, vs. written word, 30-32, 33, 46, 48-49, 52, 65

Stearn, Gerald, 2

McLuhan Hot and Cool, 24, 34, 105

Steiner, George, 2

stirrup, 43

as tetrad, 132

strippers, 40

Superman, 115


Take Today: The Executive as Dropout (McLuhan, with Barrington Nevitt), 20

talk shows, 97

Tarzan, 115

technological explosion, 57

telegraph, 48, 65

telephone, 52

televangelists, 81

television, 15, 42, 52, 53, 66, 77, 87-98, 103

and advertising, 101-2

personality types suited for, 96-97

vs. print media, 87-88

as teaching tool, 98

theater, decline of, 65

Through the Vanishing Point: Space in Poetry and Painting (McLuhan, with Harley Parker), 8

Time magazine, 37, 120

translation (Richards), 21

truth, McLuhan-style, 134-37

twentieth century, 37


Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (McLuhan), 5, 8, 9, 19, 21, 32, 34-35, 53, 55, 58, 78, 84, 94, 98

University of Manitoba, 17

University of Toronto, 24

Center for Culture and Technology, 15-16

University of Windsor, 24

University of Wisconsin, 23


videophones, 40

Village Voice, 104

violence, 40


weapons, 39


wheel, invention of, 76

metaphorical example, 56

Whitehead, Alfred North, 102

wine (as tetrad), 131

Wired magazine, 7-8, 37, 133

Wolfe, Tom, 4, 24

written word, vs. spoken word, 30-32, 33, 46, 48-49, 52, 65