Making Connections

Meadow takes us on a Cook's tour of communication technologies across time—the alphabet and moveable type printing, cave drawings and carrier pigeons, telephones, television and, of course, the Internet. In each case, Meadow shows how these (and other devices) are connected to each other, even as they serve to make connections between people. Part One discusses the basics of communications, while Part Two delves into telecommunications before the days of steam and electricity. Part Three offers insight into steam, electricity, and internal combustion energy and how they revolutionized society. Communication is the key to a productive world. For those dazzled by the pace of change in the technology or McLuhan's unorthodox but brilliant insights, Meadow's casual style and pace provide the perfect antidote.

Accessible to, and recommended for, undergraduates, students at technical colleges, and general readers., Meadows manages to make communications technology interesting again by making the reader see it from a new lens...As a solid introduction to the history of communication technology, this work is strongly recommended for academic and public libraries., Meadow, a University of Toronto professor emeritus of information studies, is well qualified to explore communications topics...Communication has characterized human experience from ancient time to the present. Thus, its history is a fascinating story to follow. Making Connections emphasizes this point by highlighting the development of a wide array of communication technologies over time., ...a well-written, thoughtful, and richly documented summary of the history of human communication., Writing in a casual style for nonspecialists, Meadow covers the basics of each technology, showing how it was invented, how it works, and the effect it has had on society.

Charles T. Meadow is Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto. He is the author of Ink into Bits: A Web of Converging Media (2002) and Messages, Meaning and Symbols: The Communication of Information (2006), both published by Scarecrow.