All animals communicate with each other in one form or another, but humans are unique in that we have been able to go much further, creating languages and symbols to share and explain ideas, feelings and abstract concepts. Communication has allowed us to make breakthroughs in science and convey emotions through art and music, and in order to communicate faster and farther, we have created technologies ranging from writing to the Internet.
Almost everything we do during the day is a form of communication not only when we speak, listen, read or write, but also when we see road signs or read each others body language. This beautifully illustrated book tells the story of communication in all its many forms, from ancient times to AI.
What Is Communication? 5
Animal Communication 6
Speech 7
We Communicate Without Knowing It! 8
Myths and Legends 9
Languages of the World 10
Family Tree of Indo-European Languages 11
Sign Language 12
From Myths to Logos 14
Writing Systems 16
The Origin of Writing 17
Egyptian Hieroglyphs 18
Evolutions 20
The Latin Alphabet 22
Writing Implements 24
Consonantal Alphabets (Abjads) 26
Logographic and Syllabic Writing 28
Abugida (Syllabic) Alphabets 30
Pre-Columbian Writing 31
Braille 32
Letters and Post 33
Art 34
Architecture and Fashion 36
Symbols 38
A World of Colours 39
Heraldry And Emblems 40
Flags of the Worlds States 42
Ahoy Captain! 44
Traffic Signals and Signs 46
Means of Transport 49
Books 50
The Invention of the Printing Press 51
Last Minute! 52
Libraries and Archives 53
The Telegraph 54
Morse Code 55
Cryptography 56
The Golden Age of Radio 58
The Magic of the Screen 60
Communicate With Machines 62
A Bit of Python 63
Globalization 64
Eduard Altarriba is a graphic designer and illustrator. He runs Alababalà, a studio producing games, exhibitions, animation, apps and practical and fun workbooks for children. He has illustrated a number of books published by GMC Publications including, Discovering Architecture, Discovering Energy, My First Book of Electromagnetism, My First Book of Microbes, My First Book of Quantum Physics, My First Book of Relativity, My First Book of the Cosmos, What is War?, Migrants, Politics and Economics. Eduard lives in Barcelona, Spain.
