About
on the back porch of the house i spent my early years in, Elmer Avenue, Toronto
This is a blog about discovering the work of Eric McLuhan and his father, Marshall McLuhan; it’s about the paths which led to their discoveries, the triumphs and disappointments along the way; and it’s about me.
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inscriptorium 
Keep it up, young Mac!
Andrew:
Thanks for this blog! I’ve been reading McLuhan since the 60’s and met your father (and Barry Nevitt) at the book signing for “Who Was Marshall McLuhan?” in 1994. I’m writing a paper on McLuhan and Hiliare Belloc, tentatively titled “McLuhan: No Alienated Man,” and would like to discuss what you find on Belloc in the scriptorium, if you can spare a moment.
Mark Stahlman
New York
Have been reading your blog – love it! Hope there is more to come.
Alice – Darwin, Australia 🙂
Thanks, Alice – I have been slack in not posting recently, hope to remedy that soon!
Hello Andrew,
My name is Anna aka Bort, from http://mulled-whine.blogspot.ca/ . Yesterday, I was surprised and pleased to see that you commented on my post about Marshall McLuhan. I’m sure that you arrived via a Google Alert (you must get thousands a day). I had always assumed that I was shouting words into the wind, and that no one would ever read them. So thank you, you made my day.
Regards,
Anna
P.S. I think it’s time for me to read ‘Understanding Media’ (at least the first chapter…)
Hi Anna,
Yes, I arrived via Google Alert. I do try to comment on ‘medium is the message’ posts when I can, and like you assume that it’s words to the wind… but if it reaches even one person, and encourages them to GO TO THE SOURCE, rather than regurgitate the popular misinterpretations (what he means is that it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it, that the medium effects the message – which is true in itself, to an extent, but not what he meant), then it’s worth my time. And really, it’s as simple as actually reading the first few pages of Understanding Media and considering it for yourself. I try to engage respectfully, and direct people to the source material rather than try and just say someone’s wrong, and I’m right… I’m not an expert, and not a scholar.
The Wikipedia entry was not really helpful for people. I’ve actually gone in and edited it and hopefully not botched it. But the fact that I (or anyone) can do that is sort of case-in-point: the reader is relying on someone’s interpretation, when they should really GO TO THE SOURCE!
I hope you do read Understanding Media. If you can set aside the preconception that it’s difficult material, you will find that it’s actually fairly straight-forward.
Cheers,
Andrew