Guaranteed to alter your thinking about communication. Peters
(Communication Studies/Univ. of Iowa) begins this delightful essay
by observing that "Only moderns could be facing each other and be
worried about 'communicating' as if they were thousands of miles
apart." For Peters, the concept of communication has evolved in
tandem with its technology, leaving us chasing a moving target
rather than closing in on a fixed ideal. It appears unavoidable
that human beings divide the world into "me" and "not me" in
distinct ways, creating both the joy of a world populated by
individual personalities and the frustration of an insuperable
barrier to transfers of unmodified meaning from one person to
another. Intensifying the quest for "genuine" communication,
whether introspectively through therapy or socially through
increasingly powerful forms of media, expands our expectations
along with our capabilities and can produce a crisis of
communication in the midst of an information age. Peters is
excellent at finding novel ways to illustrate this continuing
"project of reconciling self and other." The range of options is
presented through contrasting the interactive and selective
approach of Socrates (dialogue) with the one-way and all-inclusive
approach of Jesus (dissemination). The essential association of
communication with existence emerges in consideration of spirits
and spiritualism in everything from philosophy to seances. The
scope of communicative ambition is underlined by consideration of
attempts to interact with animals and aliens. In the end, Peters
concludes that the fears of isolation, which have pushed us to
pursue communication as the true meeting of minds, have too often
overshadowed our appreciation of what is unique. Touch, the ability
to come into direct contact with another being, and time, the
expression of our mortality, are "the two nonreproducible things we
can share, our only guarantees of sincerity" through which we can
"face the holiness and wretchedness of our finitude." Original,
erudite, and beautifully written, this book is a gem. (Kirkus
Reviews)
Communication plays a vital and unique role in society-often blamed
for problems when it breaks down and at the same time heralded as a
panacea for human relations. A sweeping history of communication,
"Speaking Into the Air" illuminates our expectations of
communication as both historically specific and a fundamental knot
in Western thought.
"This is a most interesting and thought-provoking book. . . .
Peters maintains that communication is ultimately unthinkable apart
from the task of establishing a kingdom in which people can live
together peacefully. Given our condition as mortals, communication
remains not primarily a problem of technology, but of power, ethics
and art." --Antony Anderson, "New Scientist"
"Guaranteed to alter your thinking about communication. . . .
Original, erudite, and beautifully written, this book is a gem."
--"Kirkus Reviews"
"Peters writes to reclaim the notion of authenticity in a
media-saturated world. It's this ultimate concern that renders his
book a brave, colorful exploration of the hydra-headed problems
presented by a rapid-fire popular culture." --"Publishers Weekly"
What we have here is a failure-to-communicate book. Funny thing is,
it communicates beautifully. . . . "Speaking Into the Air" delivers
what superb serious books always do-hours of intellectual challenge
as one absorbs the gradually unfolding vision of an erudite,
creative author." --Carlin Romano, "Philadelphia Inquirer"
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