Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man

by Mcluhan, Marshall; Lapham, Lewis H.

• ISBN13: 9780262631594
• ISBN10: 0262631598
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-10-24
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• More Book Details

Summary

with a new introduction by Lewis H. Lapham This reissue of Understanding Mediamarks the thirtieth anniversary (1964-1994) of Marshall McLuhan's classic expose on the state of the then emerging phenomenon of mass media. Terms and phrases such as "the global village" and "the medium is the message" are now part of the lexicon, and McLuhan's theories continue to challenge our sensibilities and our assumptions about how and what we communicate. There has been a notable resurgence of interest in McLuhan's work in the last few years, fueled by the recent and continuing conjunctions between the cable companies and the regional phone companies, the appearance of magazines such as WiRed, and the development of new media models and information ecologies, many of which were spawned from MIT's Media Lab. In effect, media now begs to be redefined. In a new introduction to this edition of Understanding Media, Harper's editor Lewis Lapham reevaluates McLuhan's work in the light of the technological as well as the political and social changes that have occurred in the last part of this century.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the MIT Press Edition	p. ix
Introduction	p. 3
The Medium Is the Message	p. 7
Media Hot and Cold	p. 22
Reversal of the Overheated Medium	p. 33
The Gadget Lover: Narcissus as Narcosis	p. 41
Hybrid Energy: Les Liaisons Dangereuses	p. 48
Media as Translators	p. 56
Challenge and Collapse: The Nemesis of Creativity	p. 62
The Spoken Word: Flower of Evil?	p. 77
The Written Word: An Eye for a Ear	p. 81
Roads and Paper Routes	p. 89
Number: Profile of the Crowd	p. 106
Clothing: Our Extended Skin	p. 119
Housing: New Look and New Outlook	p. 123
Money: The Poor Man's Credit Card	p. 131
Clocks: The Scent of Time	p. 145
The Print: How to Dig It	p. 157
Comics: MAD Vestibule to TV	p. 164
The Printed Word: Architect of Nationalism	p. 170
Wheel, Bicycle, and Airplane	p. 179
The Photograph: The Brothel-without-Walls	p. 188
Press: Government by News Leak	p. 203
Motorcar: The Mechanical Bride	p. 217
Ads: Keeping Upset with the Joneses	p. 226
Games: The Extensions of Man	p. 234
Telegraph: The Social Hormone	p. 246
The Typewriter: Into the Age of the Iron Whim	p. 258
The Telephone: Sounding Brass or Tinkling Symbol?	p. 265
The Phonograph: The Toy That Shrank the National Chest	p. 275
Movies: The Real World	p. 284
Radio: The Tribal Drum	p. 297
Television: The Timid Giant	p. 308
Weapons: War of the Icons	p. 338
Automation: Learning a Living	p. 346
Further Readings for Media Study	p. 361
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.