Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

30 years after its publication Marshall McLuhan's The Medium is the Massage remains his most entertaining, provocative, and piquant book. With every technological and social "advance" McLuhan's proclamation that "the media work us over completely" becomes more evident and plain. In his words, 'so pervasive are they in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical and social... (more)

Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man

Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man

by Marshall McLuhan, Lewis H. Lapham

with a new introduction by Lewis H. Lapham This reissue of Understanding Media marks the thirtieth anniversary (1964-1994) of Marshall McLuhan's classic expose on the state of the then emerging phenomenon of mass media. Terms and phrases such as "the global village" and "the medium is the message" are now part of the lexicon, and McLuhan's theories continue to challenge our sensibilities and our assumptions... (more)

The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man

The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man

by Marshall McLuhan

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... (more)

Future Shock

by Alvin Toffler

Examines the effects of rapid industrial and technological changes upon the individual, the family, and society.

Finnegans Wake

by James Joyce

Follows a man's thoughts and dreams during a single night. It is also a book that participates in the re-reading of Irish history that was part of the revival of the early 20th century. The author also wrote "Ulysses", "Dubliners" and "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man".

Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do

Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do

by Studs Terkel

Studs Terkel records the voices of America. Men and women from every walk of life talk to him, telling him of their likes and dislikes, fears, problems, and happinesses on the job. Once again, Terkel has created a rich and unique document that is as simple as conversation, but as subtle and heartfelt as the meaning of our lives.... In the first trade paperback edition of his national bestseller, Pulitzer... (more)

On Photography

by Susan Sontag

Winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award for Criticis m. One of the most highly regarded books of its kind, On Photography first appeared in 1977 and is described by its author as “a progress of essays about the meaning and career of photographs.” It begins with the famous “In Plato’s Cave”essay, then offers five other prose meditations on this topic, and concludes with a fascinating and far-reaching... (more)

Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece

Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece

by Ashley Kahn

Now in paperback: "A small treasure" ( The New Yorker ) and the best-selling account of the creation of a jazz classic. This critically and commercially acclaimed tribute to the most popular jazz album of all time is now available in paperback. With transcriptions of the unedited session tapes; in-depth interviews with musicians; freshly discovered Columbia Records files; never-before-seen photographs; and a... (more)

The Soul Of A New Machine

by Tracy Kidder

Computers have changed since 1981, when Tracy Kidder memorably recorded the drama, comedy, and excitement of one companys efforts to bring a new microcomputer to market. What has not changed is the feverish pace of the high-tech industry, the go-for-broke approach to business that has caused so many computer companies to win big (or go belly up), and the cult of pursuing mind-bending technological innovations. The... (more)

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk

by Peter L. Bernstein

A Business Week, New York Times Business, and USA Today Bestseller "Ambitious and readable . . . an engaging introduction to the oddsmakers, whom Bernstein regards as true humanists helping to release mankind from the choke holds of superstition and fatalism." —The New York Times "An extraordinarily entertaining and informative book." —The Wall Street Journal "A lively panoramic book . . .... (more)

Life in a Medieval Village

by Joseph Gies, Frances Gies

A lively, detailed picture of village life in the Middle Ages by the authors of Life in a Medieval City and Life in a Medieval Castle . "A good general introduction to the history of this period."-- Los Angeles Times

Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers

Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers

by Sonia Maasik, Jack Solomon

The best-selling composition reader on popular culture, Signs of Life in the USA has been adopted at more than 700 colleges and universities since its first edition. Unlike other popular culture readers, Signs of Life presumes that this topic merits rigorous analysis and so provides a conceptual framework for understanding it: semiotics, a field of critical theory developed specifically for the interpretation... (more)

Counter-BlastMarshall McLuhan

Counter-Blast

by Marshall McLuhan

Uncommon Genius

by Denise G. Shekerjian

In the tradition of The Creative Process, here is an absorbing look at creativity sure to be a perennial seller. Everyone from the budding entrepreneur to the weekend writer is looking for a great idea. But where do they come from? Denise Shekerjian interviewed 40 winners of the coveted MacArthur Foundation Fellowships--the "genius awards"--to uncover how they work and how they sneak up on great ideas. And Denise... (more)

Mechanization Takes CommandS. Giedion

Mechanization Takes Command

by S. Giedion

The Dynamo and Virgin Reconsidered: Machina ex DeoLynn White

The Dynamo and Virgin Reconsidered: Machina ex Deo

by Lynn White

Winner of the 1970 Edelstein Prize given by the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT).

Popular Culture: The Metropolitan Experience (Studies in Communication)

Popular Culture: The Metropolitan Experience (Studies in Communication)

by Iain Chambers

Iain Chambers approaches the often overlooked details and textures of popular culture through a series of histories which show how it becomes continually remade as each of us defines our own urban space.

Manhole Covers

by Mimi Melnick

"The Melnicks' work occupies a rather indeterminate genre category: part history of material culture, part exercise in obsessive photographic cataloguing of related objects, part crypto-Pop artist's book. There is a crisp and even elegant matter-of-factness to their writing and their pictures, a spare functionalist precision." -- Allan Sekula They lie underfoot, embellished and gleaming. They seal off and... (more)

Racing DaysHenry Horenstein, Brendan Boyd, BrEND Boyd

Racing Days

by Henry Horenstein

Both the photos, by Rhode Island School of Design faculty member Horenstein, and the text, by syndicated columnist Boyd (The Great American Baseball Card Book), are exceptionally fine. The camera is focused principally on race track habitues from grooms, clockers and trainers to vendors of tout sheets, jockeys and, above all, bettorsthe affluent ready to walk to the $50 window and the not-so-affluent standing in... (more)

Anthropology of Everyday Lif-P361048/3

by Edward Twitchell Hall

The internationally renowned anthropologist describes his anthropological observations over the years and discusses the adventure, glory, pain, and disappointment of the first fifty years of his life. By the author of The Silent Language. 20,000 first printing.

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: anonymous history

by Marshall McLuhan

by Marshall McLuhan, Lewis H. Lapham

by Marshall McLuhan

by Alvin Toffler

by James Joyce

by Studs Terkel

by Susan Sontag

by Ashley Kahn

by Tracy Kidder

by Peter L. Bernstein

by Joseph Gies, Frances Gies

by Sonia Maasik, Jack Solomon

by Marshall McLuhan

by Denise G. Shekerjian

by S. Giedion

by Lynn White

by Iain Chambers

by Mimi Melnick

by Henry Horenstein

by Edward Twitchell Hall