The Marvelous Clouds: Toward a Philosophy of Elemental Media Hardcover – June 19, 2015

If this book is even remotely typical of what university professors are up to these days, I want to go back to school. Prof. Peters's learning astonishes at every turn of the page. But what astonishes me even more is the wondrous fabric he weaves from it. His inspirations include such prickly visionaries as Harold Innis, Marshall McLuhan, and Friedrich Kittler. Prof. Peters takes it all in (along with so much more) and relates his own vision with remarkable human understanding and generosity of spirit. There's a fundamental human decency to his risky voyage of exploration that I find deeply appealing. It's one of those rare books that elevates me.Of course it won't be to everyone's taste. Although it's engagingly written, I had to up my intellectual game to the max. Hard work, but oh, so worth it!

A rare glimpse into a brilliant mind that deconstructs the most fundamental aspects of what we mean by media while coherently bringing together seemingly disparate ideas and sources. A must-read for all scholars of communications, philosophy, and general readers who want to challenge their basic assumptions of the world around them.

it's already on my reading cue.

Brilliant! The writing itself is lyrical and beautifully sung. The topics covered and the analogies made are thought provoking and inspired. Double bulls eye on content and style. Pick it up now!

You have to get over Peters' writing style to appreciate the arguments made about elemental media. While this is a great read, it shows that Peters is definitely a white American male. Taking a look at his sources, you see a systematic exclusion of female or other thinkers who could have contributed or even strengthen some of the arguments made. While this is a new book, it's kind of outdated in terms of the conversation he throws back to: Heidegger, McLuhan, etc., when he might have included (although older) Haraway, Hayles, etc.

1

Expansive, playful and brilliant, John Durahm Peters interweaves environment, infrastructure, technology and technique through their elemental roots to explore the framing of meaning making in the human mind. For ecopedagogists (who must focus on critical media literacy) and media ecologist and critical media theorists, he offers a pathway (a ship!) for navigating new ways of thinking and knowing which could inform our use of technique as a technological species in the anthropocene. A must read.

Very technical for a lay person. Didn't hold my interest.

Good general reference manual and overview of media studies in first chapters, yet the hyperbolic writing style and theologicalcategories hung onto natural science concepts are well, rough sailin', becoming downright annoying alongside an endless roster of facts and figures of secondary sources with little development of any original ideas. He claims he is following McLuhan lead, and clearly hopes to write a popular book, yet he lacks the originality and intelligence of McLuhan. Lastly, only one chapter actually deals with weather, so it is misleading to suggest the book deals with climate or ecology or earth science as a category of media, it doesn't. The book does even make the connection between consumerism, digital devices, electronic and plastic waste and impacts on environment. This alone places Peters' thought as firmly in the romantic tradition, hence the title Marvelous Clouds, the airiness of Being and other such high-sounding terminology never manages to convince or connect with any urgent debates. In fact, it unwittingly shows how the Western philosophical tradition is of any use in grappling with globalized world resources.

Excellent book, great subject, well written, good print quality.