Extraordinary Canadians: Marshall McLuhan
By Douglas Coupland
(Viking Canada, 2010)
“Ads are the cave art of the twentieth century.”
- Marshall McLuhan
Recognize that quotation? I didn’t think so. There’s a good likelihood that even acolytes won’t know it. There are galaxies surrounding Marshall McLuhan that the average person won’t know about. He was a clever wordsmith who came up with dozens of memorable aphorisms in his lifetime (“the medium is the message” and “the global village”). His biographer, Vancouver-based writer/artist Douglas Coupland, is also credited with coining a couple iconic expressions, including “McJobs” and “Generation X” (from Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, 1991). So perhaps it’s appropriate that he be the author in this edition of the series on “Extraordinary Canadians.”
Presentation Zen
Garr Reynolds
New Riders Press (2008)
I first saw Presentation Zen in a bookstore about a year ago. It was a beautiful large hardcover filled with gorgeous photographs of sunsets, rocky still landscapes, seas, and Japanese gardens. I admired the layout, with it’s one column amid lots of white space, and told myself I had to get my hands on this book and see what I might glean from author Garr Reynolds, on the subject of presentations and design.
Over the last year I have seen and given a handful of presentations. At design school I watch my instructors deliver presentations that vary from weak to horrible, with few positives (crazy considering they all teach graphic design!). I endured an hour -long presentation from a supposed “professional” from a large education service provider, and was astonished that she bragged that they had delivered hundred of these presentations in the last year.
Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World
Don Tapscott
McGraw-Hill (2008)
For the last couple of years the term “Web 2.0” has been floating around and it has finally become ubiquitous–everyone is talking about or getting involved in the new collaborative, user-created Internet. So it was propitious that I visited the library recently and stumbled upon Don Tapscott’s new book, “Grown Up Digital.” Tapscott is a Toronto-based writer/marketer who has written about technology and its influence on business and society.
Robert Ward
Thomas-Allen (2007)
Ward is a Toronto-based writer with a penchant for travel and an interesting quirk – he is agnostic yet so fascinated with Catholic imagery and legend that he has penned two books and traveled extensively in Europe as a result. His first book, “Virgin Trails” is an account of his travels throughout Western Europe, describing pilgrimages and the myriad motifs of the Virgin Mary. “All the Good Pilgrims” continues the journey, but is largely a travelogue overflowing with good-natured anecdotes about the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain.
The “Road of Saint James” (Sant Iago) is a twin avenue, populated equally by the religiously faithful and adventurers out for a good walk, by serious walkers who venture from far and wide and weekend warriors who show up to crowd the trails in summer. All are ‘peregrinos,’ and Ward, a keen observer, finds himself easily blending in. This is his fifth Camino and he rambles westward from a little town in the French Pyrenees to the Atlantic Coast at Finisterre (“the end of the earth”).
King of Russia: A Year in the Russian Super League
Dave King with Eric Duhatschek
McClelland and Stewart (2007)
As a Maple Leafs fan for the last couple decades I have been witness to the large number of highly skilled Russian players who’ve crossed the pond for the big bucks and glory of the NHL. I fell in love with the flashy Alexander Mogilny and his no-look lightning fast wrist shots, but I absolutely adored Dimitry Yushkevich, the ‘Russian Tank,’ who blocked shots with abandon and gave his all in defense of his team. Growing up I think many of us wondered about the famous Russian stoicism and watching Red Army teams play Montreal or the Leafs was thrilling – as east met west on ice in a clash of hockey superpowers.
In “King of Russia,” coach King reveals his biases, and apprehensions, then meets them head on as he dives into his new life in Russia.
The Writing of Pico Iyer – The Open Road and The Global Soul
Knopf (2008), Vintage (2000)
This summer I finished two books by Pico Iyer. The first was his newest: “The Open Road” about the fourteenth, currently-exiled Dalai Lama, and the second was an older book called “The Global Soul.” I have been aware of Iyer since his first book “Video Night in Kathmandu” was published about twenty years ago. I never read that but two decades later it’s jumped to the top of my list.
Pico is a something of a mongrel and uber worldtraveler. He is an Englishman of East Indian descent who splits his time between California and Japan (where his partner and her children are from). Perhaps this multiplicity lies at the core of his fascination with globalization, identity and travel.
