James Joyce's use of ten one hundred-letter words in Finnegans Wake has always been an intriguing feature of that novel. Eric McLuhan takes a new by placing the Wake in the tradition of Menippean satire, where language is used to shock and provoke. Seen in this light, Joyce's peculiar language and style become part of this Menippean tradition through his use of the linguistic 'thunderclap'.

The Role of Thunder in Finnegans Wake is the first book to examine this strangest and most prominent aspect of the language of the Wake, and explain its use in the context of classical Greek literature. Each thunderclap is a resonating logos that represents a transformation of human culture. McLuhan presents the thunders as encoding Joyce's study of ten major communications revolutions, ranging from neolithic technologies such as speech and fire, through cities, the railroad, and print, to radio, movies, and television. Seen in this fashion, Finnegans Wake is both an encyclopedia of the effects of technology in reshaping human culture and society, and a complete training course for detecting the changes in sensibility occasioned by new media.

Essential McLuhan brings together in one concise volume key writings by Marshall McLuhan, the hugely influential guru of the mass media. Today, in a communications environment transformed by the rapid spread of electronic media, McLuhan's insights are fresher and more applicable today than when he first announced them to a startled world in the 1960s. A whole new generation is turning to his work to understand a global village made real by the coming of the information superhighway. This comprehensive collection includes extracts from McLuhan's famous books Understanding Media and The Gutenberg Galaxy, as well as selections from his other books, articles, correspondence, interviews and published speeches. There is also a 'sourcebook' of key quotations drawn from the whole body of McLuhan's work, and a full bibliography of writings by and about McLuhan.

Essential McLuhan brings together in one concise volume key writings by Marshall McLuhan, the hugely influential guru of the mass media. Today, in a communications environment transformed by the rapid spread of electronic media, McLuhan's insights are fresher and more applicable today than when he first announced them to a startled world in the 1960s. A whole new generation is turning to his work to understand a global village made real by the coming of the information superhighway. This comprehensive collection includes extracts from McLuhan's famous books Understanding Media and The Gutenberg Galaxy, as well as selections from his other books, articles, correspondence, interviews and published speeches. There is also a 'sourcebook' of key quotations drawn from the whole body of McLuhan's work, and a full bibliography of writings by and about McLuhan.

Reviews
No one understood causality, whether Aristotelian or electric, like Marshall McLuhan. Now, in" Media and Formal Cause," no one reveals understanding of "formal "cause in the digital environment better than McLuhan's prot g son, Eric. In the foreword, Lance Strate writes that M. McLuhan's "Understanding Media" was one of the most important books of the 20th century. For anyone who wishes to understand how things truly work, "Media and Formal Cause" is one of the most important books of the 21st. Arguably formal cause has been the least understood but the most intellectually important of all of Aristotle's four agents or processes of causation. This" small "volume proffers a "large "understanding of this "form"ative, previously mysterious level of invisible creation. Three essays by Marshall (one with co-author Barry Nevitt) and a powerful new essay by Eric give new meaning to" ye olde clich ," "like father, like son." While reading writing that is engaging, encyclopedic, and electric, we discover that formal cause is not what you think... but it is vital to how you think.
-Thomas Cooper, Professor of Visual and Media Arts, Emerson College; author of" Fast Media/Media Fast"
In "Media and Formal Cause" Eric McLuhan updates an important part of his father's work that is often overlooked, the quixotic role of causality in making sense of how new media change the way we construct our environment and our communication. How does novelty cause antiquity? When do effects precede causes? Read on, and you shall find out.
-David Rothenberg, Professor of Philosophy and Music, New Jersey Institute of Technology; author of "Why Birds Sing" and" Thousand Mile Song"
Like his mentor, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Marshall McLuhan was often accused of indulging in mere paradox. But "Media and Formal Cause "demonstrates the profound understanding that underlies the work of both Chesterton and McLuhan, the understanding that we live in a paradoxical world. Both McLuhan and Chesterton attempted to jar readers loose from what Cardinal Newman called "paper logic" into a recognition of the total situation in which we find ourselves. This very readable and accessible volume should greatly assist new readers of McLuhan and remind long time students of just how challenging and exhilarating his explorations were.
-Philip Marchand, author, "Marshall McLuhan: The Medium and the Messenger"
A sage and perceptive quartet of essays which capture and extend a still quintessentially unique way of thinking about media, via patterns and connections that harken to the ancient world and redound to our present and future.
-Paul Levinson, Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University; author of "Digital McLuhan," and of" New New Media"

Instead of giving the reader just another collection of articles and interviews, "McLuhan Unbound" gives readers offprints of the original essays.

Marshall McLuhan's insights are fresher and more applicable today than when he first announced them to a startled world. A whole new generation is turning to his work to understand a global village made real by the information superhighway and the overwhelming challenge of electronic transformation."Before anyone could perceive the electric form of the information revolution, McLuhan was publishing brilliant explanations of the perceptual changes being experienced by the users of mass media. He seemed futuristic to some and an enemy of print and literacy to others. He was, in reality, a deeply literate man of astonishing prescience. Tom Wolfe suggested aloud that McLuhan's work was as important culturally as that of Darwin or Freud. Agreement and scoffing ensued. Increasingly Wolfe's wonder seems justified."From the IntroductionHere in one volume, are McLuhan's key ideas, drawn from his books, articles, correspondence, and published speeches. This book is the essential archive of his constantly surprising vision.

Theories of Communication is the realization of a project begun in the 1970s with Marshall McLuhan and now brought to completion by his son, Eric McLuhan. This collection of short essays assembles theories of communication from a diverse range of famous people – from Thomas Aquinas and Francis Bacon to Wyndham Lewis and Ezra Pound – and ends with an essay on Marshall McLuhann’ own theory of communication. While the majority of the essays have been previously published, all are seminal pieces in the field. Their presence together in one volume is a significant contribution to the overall task of understanding culture and communication in our time, and will appeal to both scholars and students interested in the work of Marshall McLuhan.