The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man [Paperback]

Marshall McLuhan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1962

Since its first appearance in 1962, the impact of The Gutenberg Galaxy has been felt around the world. It gave us the concept of the global village; that phrase has now been translated, along with the rest of the book, into twelve languages, from Japanese to Serbo-Croat. It helped establish Marshall McLuhan as the original 'media guru.' More than 200,000 copies are in print. The reissue of this landmark book reflects the continuing importance of McLuhan's work for contemporary readers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'One of the most stimulating and important books that has been written in our time.'

(Saturday Night )

'Endlessly stimulating, informative, and liberating.'

(The Observer Weekend Review )

About the Author

Marshall McLuhan (1911 - 1980) was a literature scholar and the founder of the Centre for Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division; 1 edition (March 1, 1962)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802060412
• ISBN-13: 978-0802060419
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #498,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McLuhan - As Always, Brilliant, February 2, 2000

By 

Allen Smalling "Constant Reader," (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (Paperback)

One can almost think of "The Gutenberg Galaxy" as the "prequel" to Marshall McLuhan's much better known "Understanding Media," because "Galaxy" does for print techology what "Media" does for electronic technology. Basically McLuhan assesses how European civilization went from an ear-touch (listening) oriented mode of receving information to an eye-oriented (that is, reading) mode of receiving information. Recalling that for McLuhan, the medium IS the message, so the invention and dissemination of printing-press technology and the sharp rise in literacy it occasioned therefore brought about a major seismic shift in Western thought and all that goes with it--language, mores, dress, politics, etc.

Another way of looking at this is to say that in McLuhan's view, history is not determined by politics or economics or weather or science per se so much as by our media--the "extensions of man." This book is a must-read followup to anyone who liked "Understanding Media"; it's also a great book to cut one's teeth on before reading "Understanding Media" because it's a more traditional (i.e., formal and linear) type of academic work. And undeniably brilliant. For what it's worth, I was a communications major at the University of Virginia in the mid-1970s when reading McLuhan's work was rougher than it is now; many of his concepts like "global village" have since filtered thru society. But I read all of McLuhan's media-oriented writings, wrote term papers on him, and feel as though I benefited as a result--he's the main reason I'm a writer today.

Allen; [e-mail]

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The orality/literacy debate and McLuhan's media theory, July 5, 2005

By 

Vinay Varma "VinVar" (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (Paperback)

This book expands on the views of McLuhan's teacher Harold Innis, who distingusihed oral and written cultures. The book argues that oral cultures are synaesthetic and work with synthetic logic, while cultures of writing push the mind toward singulation of senses, logic and 'perspective'.

McLuhan 'glosses' through a wide range of scattered historical pieces of information to show how oral, written and print cultures have different patterns. He ably shows how printing also transformed art, architecture, society and industry.

The book is thoroughly historical, dense and rich in informative detail. It forms the foundation for McLuhan's clearer theoretical articulation of his ideas in 'Understanding Media', but is more accessible to the layman.

This book belongs to a pantheon of books that revolve around similar ideas like Harold Innis's 'Empire and Communications' & 'The Bias of Communication'; Walter J. Ong's 'Orality and Literacy' and William J. Ivins's 'Print and Visual Culture' and 'Art and Geometry'. But this is the most sweeping, convincing, dramatic statement of the common theory proposed by these various writers.

And for those who love theory with a dose of history, this makes for really delightful reading.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best of McLuhan's Writing, December 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (Paperback)

The best of McLuhan's media analyses and published before his 60's stardom. Written in his "mosaic style" (would be easily adapted to hypertext) it remains an excellent analysis of how both the written word (letters) and the printed work (starting with Guttenberg) altered human perception. It is full of interesting observations (and the usual collection of his favorite Joyce quotes) and more accessible than many of his later works.

Highly Reccommended!!