Understanding media : the extensions of man / Marshall McLuhan ; introduction by Lewis H. Lapham.

Previous ed.: New York : McGraw-Hill, 1964.

Includes bibliographical references.

Part 1.Introduction -- 1.The medium is the message -- 2.Media hot or cold -- 3.Reversal of the overheated medium -- 4.The gadget lover: Narcissus as narcosis -- 5.Hybrid energy: Les liaisons dangereuses -- 6.Media as translators -- 7.Challenge and collapse: the nemesis of creativity --Part II. 8. The spoken word: flower of evil? -- 9.The written word: an eye for an ear -- 10.Roads and paper routes -- 11.Number: profile of the crown -- 12.Clothing: our extended skin -- 13.Housing: new look and new outlook -- 14.Money: the poor man\'s credit card -- 15.Clocks: the scent of time -- 16.The print: how to dig it -- 17.Comics: MAD vestibule to TV -- 18.The printed word: architect of nationalism -- 19.Wheel, bicycle, and airplane -- 20.The photograph: the brothel-without-walls -- 21.Press: Government by new leak -- 22.Motorcar : the mechanical bride -- 23.Ads: keeping upset with the Joneses -- 24.Games: the extension of man -- 25.Telegraph: the social hormone -- 26.The typewriter: into the age of the iron whim -- 27.The telephone: sounding brass or tinkling symbol? -- 28.The phonograph: the toy that shrank the national chest -- 29.Movies: the real world -- 30.Radio: the tribal drum -- 31.Television: the timid giant -- 32.Weapons: wars of the icons -- 33.Automation: learning a living.

This reissue marks the 30th anniversary (1964-1994) of Marshall McLuhan's investigation into the state of the then emerging phenomenon of mass media. McLuhan's theories continue to challenge our sensibilities and our assumptions about how and what we communicate.