12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I liked his other books better, September 15, 2001
This review is from: The Cartoon Guide to (Non) Communication : The Use and Misuse of Information in the Modern World (Paperback)
I have to admit that I had high hopes for this book, having read many of the authors other terrific books.
For me, the beginning of the book was the most interesting. It covered the evolution of communication, starting with single celled organisms and moving to fish, small mammals, and man. He describes how important our reptilian brain (i.e. the primitive portion of our brain that controls emotions and basic desires such as food and sex) is to communication, providing examples of how it can subconsciously shape messages.
The rest of the material, however, just didnt grab me as did his other books. He describes language and the use of icons, symbols, and kinesthetics but I didnt find that the cartoon format helped much. The next section describes the application of logic to communication, although I came away with the sense that the examples he used to support his theories had counter-examples that were ignored. Principles of good communication come next, with a nice pitch for replacing legalese in contracts with plain English. The second part of the book deals with the delivery of communication, including the use of images, writing, printing, television, and computer graphics.
I think that there is certainly a lot to learn from the book, but if you are new to the world of Gonick you might start with his books on Genetics, Statistics, or Physics in which his gift for illustration helps make difficult subjects much more digestible.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Communication is hard, but this book makes it easier to understand, January 9, 2006
This review is from: The Cartoon Guide to (Non) Communication : The Use and Misuse of Information in the Modern World (Paperback)
Communication between humans is very hard, as there are so many different ways in which information can be sent. Furthermore, all communications are carried out in a historical and local context. There is the history of all previous communications between all involved and there are the current surroundings and exterior conditions. Even the same words spoken in a different tone of voice can impart different meanings and there are the local restrictions imposed by the rules of social interaction. If you study communication between humans, your conclusion is often that it is surprising that it works so well. It is for that reason that nearly all people who study human development believe that we possess an innate ability to communicate with others. The speed and skill with which young children pick up language is nearly conclusive proof of that.
Gonick takes us back to the fundamental reptilian brain that mammals have and discusses the emotional responses that we have to communication. Ritual, major theories of communication, new ways to communicate such as through e-mail are some of the ideas presented using cartoons. They are amusing and thought provoking and explain the problems and main ideas of communication in ways that are easy to understand. Technology has made it easier to send messages, but it is not yet certain if it has made it easier to communicate. Television has made it easier to send incorrect messages, and some examples are cited. Because they do require action on the part of the participants, computers are much better at facilitating communication, although problems in the use of e-mail are persistent and emoticons had to be invented to reduce the level of problems.
Communication is something that is much more difficult to understand than it is to use and few really understand all the subtle aspects of how it is done. This book will help you learn some of the different components of communication and in a manner that will never cause you to scratch your head in wonderment as to what it is you just read.
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