The medium is the message -- Media hot and cold -- Reversal of the overheated medium -- The gadget lover : narcissus as narcosis -- Hybrid energy : Les liaisons dangereuses -- Media as translators -- Challenge and collapse : the nemesis of creativity -- The spoken word : flower of evil? -- The written word : an eye for an ear -- Roads and paper routes -- Number : profile of the crowd -- Clothing : our extended skin -- Housing : new look and new outlook -- Money : the poor man's credit card -- Clocks : the scent of time -- The print : how to dig it -- Comics : Mad vestibule to TV -- The printed word : architect of nationalism -- Wheel, bicycle, and airplane -- The photograph : the brothel-without-walls -- Press : government by news leak -- Motorcar : the mechanical bride -- Ads : keeping upset with Joneses -- Games : the extensions of man -- Telegraph : the social hormone -- The typewriter : into the age of the iron whim -- The telephone : sounding brass or tinkling symbol? -- The phonograph : the toy that shrank the national chest -- Movies : the reel world -- Radio : the tribal drum -- Television : the timid giant -- Weapons : war of the icons -- Automation : learning a living.