In my eyes, society has become even more fragmented, sterilized, and numb since the advent of television, and, presently, the Internet. Under electric technology the entire business of man becomes learning and knowing. . . . As I see it, this is part of the problem with the Internet right now. His optimism of the coming electronic age can partially be attributed to the mood and the Sixties when a movement toward tribes, unity, and spirituality was the order of the time among the cultural elite. McLuhan is especially skillful in employing examples of the effects of the media on culture and society through the arts, written reports of events, and shifts in history.
Kings can play poker with kingdoms, as the generals of their armies do with troops. . . .
The book is extremely conversational in tone and does not overwhelm the reader at all. McLuhan's book still remains important at the start of the 21st Century because of it details the dramatic effects technologies can have on a society and culture. With advances in technology occurring at a more rapid rate than ever McLuhan's book serves as the starting point for which anybody should study the physical, social, and psychological effects of media.