Scan barcode
A review by wmhenrymorris
The Marvelous Clouds: Toward a Philosophy of Elemental Media by John Durham Peters
This book is aimed at both media theorists/critics and the general audience who is interested in the modern condition. I doubt it satisfies either, but it's very much worth reading to see if it might satisfy you. If you're interested in science, technology, history, philosophy and theology and especially writing about all of the above that is more about making connections and be allusive and spinning metaphor and raising questions, then, yes, you very well might like it quite a bit. I did.
JDP talks about the elements (water, fire, wind) as media. And the sky and things used to explore and measure the sky. And (of course) clouds. He does so not in a way that provides a direct model for talking about media, but in a way that, as he puts it, suggests that since "media old and new are embedded in cycles of day and night, weather and climate, energy and culture" and insofar (and despite what we may think) "the digital implies basic facts of biology" (rather than being aloof from them) then "we should make a greener media studies that appreciates our long natural history of shaping and being shaped by our habitats as a process of mediation" (377).
JDP talks about the elements (water, fire, wind) as media. And the sky and things used to explore and measure the sky. And (of course) clouds. He does so not in a way that provides a direct model for talking about media, but in a way that, as he puts it, suggests that since "media old and new are embedded in cycles of day and night, weather and climate, energy and culture" and insofar (and despite what we may think) "the digital implies basic facts of biology" (rather than being aloof from them) then "we should make a greener media studies that appreciates our long natural history of shaping and being shaped by our habitats as a process of mediation" (377).