ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on messages and the various ways in which we generate messages and others interpret them. It argues that we are always sending messages, even though we may not be conscious of doing so; we are always receiving messages from others who may not realize they are sending them, and we all try to control the messages we send to others and interpret the messages we receive from them to the best of our ability. We find communication in conversations, in debates, in courses on rhetoric and argumentation, in fashion, in advertising, in mass mediated texts, in facial expressions, in body language, in texts we read, in television programs we watch, in films we see, and in all kinds of things we gaze at on our smart phones and tablets.
