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Book Review - The Story of Human
Communication - Cave Painting To Microchip
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Book Details Title: The Story of Human Communication-cave painting to microchip Author: Wilbur Schramm Publisher: Harper and Row Publishers, New York Year of Publication: 1988 Number of pages: 382 SYNOPSIS "Communications has helped to cement the connection of ideas and knowledge, the history of human communication is really a history, not of action, but of interaction" - Wilbur Schramm Wilbur Schramm has been one of the pioneers in the field of mass communications. In his book The Story of Human Communication, he documents the history of communication - from the oral tradition of preliterate cultures, through different types of writing and print, to the electronic media of our own time. The book focuses on the evolution of communication right from cave painting to microchips. The book can be divided into five parts. In the first part Schramm writes about the origin of cave paintings, the cosmic calendar, the birth of language and the invention of writing. He explores cave paintings of Altamira in Spain, Lascaux in France and also notes the development of language and writing from non verbal-to-verbal concepts. The second part is about the institutions of communication like the city, the school and the language of mathematics and science. Schramm talks about Ionian scholars in Greece and how mankind developed from Neolithic stage to the Homo sapiens stage. The third part talks about the birth of Mass Media and various related fields like news, advertising, public relations, the growth of the Elite, Popular and the American press. It describes how news came into being and became an instrument of social control. The fourth part underlines the origin of sound, film, radio, television, photography, telephone, and entertainment, and comments on how these new developments changed the pace of human life. The fifth part concludes with some thoughts on the importance of microelectronics, including computer and space communication. Schramm also discusses what an age of communication might be like if we are indeed entering upon one. BOOK REVIEW "The difficulty in summing up a field like human communication is that it has no land that is exclusively its own. Communication is the fundamental social process."-Wilbur Schramm While it can be said that no two people are alike, there is one thing that sets us apart from all other animals on the planet - as humans we have developed the power to communicate through words and language. Communication is the modus operandi of social and commercial interaction. It is man's ability to communicate across barriers and beyond boundaries that has ushered the progress of mankind. Wilbur Schramm was an early leader in the field of communications and researched the effects of communication on people. Written in simple language, Schramm's book The Story of Human Communication explains what is meant by communication and how it evolved over millions of years. The Story of Human Communication is a project that required immense research and analysis. The writer's minute-by-minute account of the history of communication is noteworthy. Schramm has succeeded in the Herculean task of collecting and assimilating information, the history of communication, from every nook and corner of the world , and providing to the reader in a coherent and systematic from. A study of the evolution of communications can help us understand the complex psyche of the human mind. For example, Schramm mentions that prehistoric men climbed treetops to see who was approaching their area. It shows how man has been curious about things right from the stone ages. This was the beginning of news and the newspaper - a short link in history between Stone Age and the microchip age. All through the book, Schramm has used apt quotations to introduce every chapter. Because communication is such an enormous topic, the book supplies, additional reference notes, indices and study aids. The writer supplies lots of relevant data for the study of human communication in the form of pictures and charts. Schramm has an elaborate bibliography at the end of each chapter, 'Suggestions for Further Reading', for readers who want to research any topic. He also summarizes the landmark events in history discussed in a chapter in the form of a "Time Capsule" at the end of some chapters. Every chapter, finally, leaves the reader with "questions to think about", which speculative and thought provoking. Wilbur Schramm's The Story of Human Communication is a simple, informative book, written not just for researchers, historians, academicians or media students, but also for anybody that wonders where and how did communication and language originate. I hope this review will help you. Feel free to email me with any comments or suggestions that you may have. Gary, Editor, QuikContent Services. BACK TO HOME PAGE |
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