Communication studies Books

Would our lives, relationships and careers be better if we just STFU for a while? We live in a world that doesn’t just encourage overtalking, but practically demands it. When success is measured by how much attention we can attract, how long we can hold...

The author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power.What makes “cults” so intriguing...

From sea-stained dispatches to data sent back from deep space, Southern Signals is the story of Australia's use of communications to bridge vast distances through war and peace, exploration and growth.Communications have been vital at every stage of...

At a time when every disagreement turns toxic, world champion debater Bo Seo reveals the timeless secrets of effective communication and persuasion.When Bo Seo was 8 years old, he and his family migrated from Korea to Australia. At the time, he did not...

Ever wonder what that raised eyebrow, nervous twitch, or lazy slouch really means? Is it profound and important...or a meaningless quirk? In The Body Language Handbook, the authors use candid photos of real people in stress-free situations, then...

"Instructive and entertaining."-Wall Street JournalLearn how to argue from the masters. This book is a complete course on the art of argument, taught by the greatest practitioners of it: Churchill, Lincoln, and hundreds of others from the golden age of...

A collection of 366 facts about language to enliven each day of the year. In this ingenious and diverse collection of 366 stories, events and facts about language, David Crystal presents a selection of insights from literary and linguistic writers, poets...

When Kenny Albert was growing up, family gatherings sounded a lot like a dispatch from the first all-sports radio station. There was his father, Marv, whose voice shaped the sound of modern basketball, and there too were his uncles Al and Steve-a trio of...

Doublespeak is the language of non-responsibility, carefully constructed to appear to communicate when it fact it doesn't. In this lively and eye-opening expose, originally published in 1989, linguist William Lutz identifies the four most common types of...

"I must refrain from shouting what a brilliant work this is (prteritio). Farnsworth has written the book as he ought to have written it and as only he could have written it (symploce). Buy it and read it buy it and read it (epimone)."-Bryan A. Garner,...

Mothers have consistently relied upon one another for guidance and support as they navigate the difficult world of parenting. For many women, the increasingly established online community of "mommyblogs" now provides a source of camaraderie and support...

Become a more effective and powerful communicator in today's highly polarised and polluted public square.The most pressing problem we face today is not climate change. It is pollution in the public square, where a toxic smog of adversarial rhetoric,...

An irreverent critical lexicon of academic life and cultureThe university: The very name evokes knowledge, culture, and the magnificently universal ambition at the heart of this essential institution. Bastions of free inquiry and a free society, engines...

Journalists today are inundated with data about which stories attract the most clicks, likes, comments, and shares. These metrics influence what stories are written, how news is promoted, and even which journalists get hired and fired. Do metrics make...