From "The Extension of Man" to "Extending Marshall McLuhan"

I guess ill start by saying that this book is definitely going to be complex and harder to understand than the previous reading assignments. Maybe I am jumping the gun with this statement based solely on the first few chapter but it seems that because the content directly involves both McLuhan's theories and Logan's theories of how UM would translate to the development of media, the reading calls for more focus as well as prior understanding and analysis of the topics. Logan addresses this issue by organizing the book similarly to a text book with a clear table of content, appendix, and sections within each chapter. Logan expresses that the reader is meant to treat the linear text the way you would a text with hyperlinks by referring to other sections based on parenthesis with references that are used throughout the book. This method seems to have its pros and cons. Although it may be necessary for this topic, it also leads to a less coherent and sometimes confusing effect on the reader.

Looking now into the content of the first few chapter, Logan introduces his work by providing a better understanding of both McLuhan and other communication scholars of the time, some who did not seem to have the same ideas. It also seemed that many of the people who studied McLuhan's theories weren't able to grasp the ideas that he intended (or that Logan believed he intended) properly. 

Much of the information present in the chapters 2-5 are generally related to one of McLuhan's main concepts and title of his work "the extension of man" referring to the notion that media and technologies increase and extend the powers of man. This simplified description encompasses the majority of McLuhan theories including medias effect on society as well as societies effect on media. Within this weeks reading assignment Logan touches upon and provides a better understanding of the development of Media using the 5 communication ages along with a introduction into "new media" and how it has played out in terms of McLuhan's studies and predictions.