Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters (Wadsworth Series in Communication Studies) [Paperback]

Julia T. Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 2006 | ISBN-10: 049500653X | ISBN-13: 978-0495006534 | Edition: 5

This best-selling text by a leading voice in the field offers a distinct alternative to existing textbooks for the introductory course in interpersonal communication. This text offers a theoretically unified but pragmatic introduction to the concepts, principles, and skills of interpersonal communication in a multicultural society. INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION: EVERYDAY ENCOUNTERS consistently integrates ethics and issues of social diversity into coverage of both discussions and mastery of skills, and it shows how interpersonal communication theory and skills pertain to students' daily encounters with others. INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION: EVERYDAY ENCOUNTERS pays unparalleled attention to social diversity and emphasizes theories, research, and skills that are anchored in the field of communication.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is a 'pick-up-and-go' package where there is ample material provided to create effective learning environments. . . . The text provides students an easy yet effective treatment of the foundations of interpersonal communication."

"This book has a smooth and conversational tone. The author uses personal examples that help to forge a connection between reader and writer, and there are a lot of examples (e.g., first-hand testimonials) from a wide variety of sources."

"I chose Wood's text because it is one of the most up-to-date texts in the field. Julia T. Wood is one of the foremost scholars in the discipline, and through her research and work in the field, she stays abreast of the latest information. I think this is clearly the best text for me and my students." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Julia T. Wood is the Lineberger Professor of Humanities and a professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she teaches courses and conducts research on gender, communication, culture, and communication in personal relationships. Dr. Wood has authored seventeen books and edited nine others. In addition, she has published more than eighty articles and book chapters, and she has won twelve awards for undergraduate teaching and thirteen awards for her scholarship. She received her B.A. from North Carolina State University, her M.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 394 pages
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 5 edition (February 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 049500653X
• ISBN-13: 978-0495006534
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a reader friendly book., August 13, 2000

By 

"kevin_ward" (Metairie, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters (Paperback)

Ms. Wood is intelligent and provides a lot of good information in this textbook. This was chosen for the course I teach before I took the position and if I had my way, we would have found a different book. It is not that the information is bad, it is just that Ms. Wood becomes very repetitive. About half of the first six chapters seem to drag on and most of the time restates the same thing from an earlier chapter or from the same chapter. I like what she has done with discussing multicultural issues, but some of it seems to be patronizing to the reader. I think another edition should be done and making the chapters shorter and more readable (Chapter 1 goes on for 78 pages -- which lost my attention, so I know my students had the same problem.) In the course review, the textbook generally gets a poor or below average rating. I can not give you a recommendation, as I am in the middle of searching for a better option.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Valuable, but tedious, September 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Interpersonal Communication With Infotrac: Everyday Encounters (Paperback)

This text was required reading for an interpersonal communications course I took. It provided a ton of valuable information, very helpful insight, sample conversations, and examples which helped me to acctually apply what was learned. However, the writing style was highly repetitive, and each new section repeated earlier ones then built on them instead of starting with completely new information. While this did help me learn better, it was also somewhat boring. I would still recommend this book for it's ability to make abstract terms much more tangible. Hope this helps!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dense and a bit dry, April 12, 2011

By 

Danny Yu (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters (Wadsworth Series in Communication Studies) (Paperback)

The textbook's got lots of good information and detail, but there's a lot of necessary/excessive word usage throughout the chapters.

- I'd prefer that the textbook company would simplify their words and make it brief, especially since this is a communications book

- Good value though!