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Marshall McLuhan on Books

1911–1980 Canada

← All quotes by Marshall McLuhan

7 quotes

The book is a private confessional form that provides a “point of view.”

Understanding Media (1964)

Literacy, in translating man out of the closed world of tribal depth and resonance, gave man an eye for an ear and ushered him into a visual open world of specialized and divided consciousness.

The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)

Current concern with reading and spelling reform steers away from visual to auditory stress. (p. 54)

The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)

The portability of the book, like that of the easel-painting, added much to the new culture of individualism. (p. 233)

The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)

Headlines are icons, not literature. (p. 5)

Counterblast (1969)

The press is a group confessional form that provides communal participation. The book is a private confessional form that provides a “point of view.” (p. 204)

Understanding Media (1964)

Our book technology has Gutenberg at one end and the Ford assembly lines at the other. Both are obsolete. (p. 99)

Counterblast (1969)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Marshall McLuhan (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.