The Medium is the Massage is a design classic from 1967. We’ve occasionally had reprints of this stunning publication in our shop, but I think it’s the first time that a first edition has come through our doors. Such a cool book! I have to admit that I’ve never worked out exactly what it is about… I think it is meant to demonstrate that mainstream media are extensions of human senses. The Medium is the Massage is supposed to be a graphical representation of that idea…
The title is of course a play on McLuhan’s often-quoted phrase ‘the medium is the message’. Apparently the title was actually a mistake. “After the book came back from the typesetter’s, it had on the cover ‘Massage’ instead of ‘Message’. After McLuhan saw the typo, he exclaimed, ‘Leave it alone! It’s great, and right on target!’ Now there are four readings for the last word of the title, all of them accurate: Message and Mess Age, Massage and Mass Age. “
Some blissful hippie wisdom… Maybe there isn’t much more to understand; just marvel at the revolutionary design!