A vital part of humanity involves ways in which we communicate with each other. People have used many ways to communicate—through talking, writing, video chatting, for example. As humanity has progressed so too have the ways humans communicate. This book focuses on inventions of communication that have affected society. From the typewriter to Skype, communication is a process that is ever evolving and will continue to change as society changes.

Presenting profiles of the mathematicians, engineers, and other scientists who helped create and develop communications technologies, Bray (Imperial College London) begins his volume in the mid-18th century, looking at people like Ampere, Ohm, Faraday, and Hertz, who created the mathematical and scientific foundations of telecommunications. He proceeds to offer chapters on telegraph and cable engineers, telephone engineers, inventors of the thermionic valve, pioneers of radio and television broadcasting, microwave radio-relay engineers, the inventors of the transistor and the microchip, the creators of information theory and digital techniques, satellite communication engineers, pioneers optical fiber communications, and inventors of the Internet and mobile communications. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This book is a comprehensive illustrated account of the technologies and inventions in mass communication that have accelerated the advancement of human culture and society. A History of Communication Technology covers a timeline in the history of mass communication that begins with human prehistory and extends all the way to the current digital age. Using rich, full-color graphics and diagrams, the book details the workings of various mass communication inventions, from paper-making, printing presses, photography, radio, TV, film, and video, to computers, digital devices, and the Internet. Readers are given insightful narratives on the social impact of these technologies, brief historical accounts of the inventors, and sidebars on the related technologies that enabled these inventions. This book is ideal for students in introductory mass communication, visual communication, and history of media courses, offering a highly approachable, graphic-oriented approach to the history of communication technologies. Additional digital resources for the book are available at https://comtechhistory.site/

This book is a comprehensive illustrated account of the technologies and inventions in mass communication that have accelerated the advancement of human culture and society. A History of Communication Technology covers a timeline in the history of mass communication that begins with human prehistory and extends all the way to the current digital age. Using rich, full-color graphics and diagrams, the book details the workings of various mass communication inventions, from paper-making, printing presses, photography, radio, TV, film, and video, to computers, digital devices, and the Internet. Readers are given insightful narratives on the social impact of these technologies, brief historical accounts of the inventors, and sidebars on the related technologies that enabled these inventions. This book is ideal for students in introductory mass communication, visual communication, and history of media courses, offering a highly approachable, graphic-oriented approach to the history of communication technologies.

"From codes and signals to social media, communication inventions advance the ways we interact with one another. Humorous text follows these inventions throughout history, showing how one invention often led to another--or how some inventions didn't turn out so well."--

From Talking Drums to the Internet is the story of the human quest to communicate more effectively. It reaches far back into prehistory to explore cave paintings, hieroglyphics, and smoke signals - all technological giant steps in their day. But the volume focuses primarily on the twentieth century, when the pace of innovation became an explosion and we progressed from listening to radio early in the century to watching color television at the halfway point to attempting communication with extraterrestrials at the approach of the second millennium. From Talking Drums to the Internet helps the reader make sense of this dizzying profusion of breakthroughs and their impact. More than 210 alphabetically arranged entries clearly explain the workings of each technology and its applications. They also explain the enormous social implications of important technologies, such as the printing press, radio, and television, which have already changed forever the nature and quality of life for billions of people around the world. This comprehensive volume not only brings readers up to date on the current developments in communications technology and their effects; it also helps them understand the roots of controversies, trace the course of important technological advances, and make the acquaintance of those individuals who have played particularly important roles. Its extensive illustrations, lists of references, and painstaking cross-references make it an important and timely addition to every library collection.