I read this book all wrong - I started at the beginning and read sequentially until I reached the end. Carson's artwork pairs excellently with the hardened little jewels of McLuhan's probes. I'm going to have to buy this so I can read it correctly - randomly flip it open, contemplate a single probe or two in depth, and then leave the book on a windowsill to revisited after days or weeks.

Another book that I'll keep close to my bedside. It's very nicely designed, full of excellent probes by MM augmented by an excellent introduction and three marvellous chapters. Highly recommended for the McLuhan connoisseur that I gradually seem to become. Thanks for editing the book, David Carson

I came across an old assignment from Graphic Design class with a few pages from this book. From the numerous quotes and art work that I included in the assignment I must have found this a very interesting book. A couple of the quotes: Advertising is the art form of the 20th century. Why is America the land of the overrated child and the underrated adult? How can children grow up in a world in which adults idolize youthfulness?

Not "a splendid introduction" to "the full force of Marshall McLuhan's mind and process". The approach to formatting "a collection to McLuhan's finest words" as a collection of probes is interesting and could have had potential as a concept where prescient or timeless thoughts are expressed in short writing and complementary graphics. But as it stands the book probably appeals more to those who are already somewhat familiar with McLuhan's thoughts and who possess the requisite context, and/or some certain type of necessary intellect, to be able to interpret and use the probes meaningfully. Otherwise the probes might be easily refuted or even dismissed as pretentious 1960's bullshit dressed up in 1990's graphic design. For the rest of us McLuhan's aphorisms should probably not be used as-is -- they might well fail to allude, intimate or imply some insight -- but as counterfactual provocations or nostradamic predictions, with pages flipped at random and not read from cover to cover.

Mentally aerating.

Like Kafka and Freud, McLuhan is a writer who is often referred to or quoted without being understood, resulting in a shorthand for cultural conditions that everyone recognizes but few can articulate. This title provides a refreshing representation of the philosopher's work, artfully arraying his ideas as brief statements in the space of the page and setting them against stunning imagery and design work by David Carson