The problem with that famous line is that it is absolutely devoid of any meaning. The actual line is "The Medium is the Massage" -- NOTE: MASSAGE -- and it was largely criticized as being incoherent [1]. A lot of post-modern non-sense that was well-timed to a period of social and cultural upheaval among idealistic youth culture.
For anyone interested in media commentary I recommend Niel Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death. Published in 1986 it is a eerie and lucid look into media and its measurable effects on society. I find it more relevant today than when it was published.
I'm afraid you're mistaken. The book you mention does exist, but as graeme pointed out, it's an "unintentional" parody of the original phrase "the medium is the message", which is indeed widely attributed to McCluhan.
It's worth pointing out that McCluhan never wrote a book titled "The Medium is the Message", as the phrase is actually taken from his book "Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man", which was published in 1964. I highly recommend it, if you're interested in challenging your preconceived notions of "post-modern" thought, whatever it is you take that to mean. This text covers many topics seminal to media theory, which I won't summarize here, but the line you casually discard as meaningless (as well as the greater context surrounding it) is by far the most influential portion.
Seeing as though I explained the meaning of the phrase for you above, I won't repeat myself here, but on a somewhat lighter note I think were he alive today, he would probably be intrigued by your comments, and the medium by which you derived them. The irony would not be lost on him.
I haven't read McLuhan and have no opinion on his work. But from the article you linked to, the original phrase was "the medium is the message"
Your linked source also doesn't say anything about criticism of the phrase.
"The title is a play on McLuhan's oft-quoted saying "The medium is the message"."
"Why is the title of the book The Medium is the Massage and not The Medium is the Message? Actually, the title was a mistake. When the book came back from the typesetter's, it had on the cover 'Massage' as it still does. The title was supposed to have read The Medium is the Message but the typesetter had made an error. When McLuhan saw the typo he exclaimed, 'Leave it alone! It's great, and right on target!' Now there are possible four readings for the last word of the title, all of them accurate: Message and Mess Age, Massage and Mass Age."
For anyone interested in media commentary I recommend Niel Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death. Published in 1986 it is a eerie and lucid look into media and its measurable effects on society. I find it more relevant today than when it was published.
[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Medium_Is_the_Massage