Media Reviews
The aim of the book is not so much to advance the cause of semiotic theory, however, as to provide the most fundamental level of understanding needed to be able to appreciate the cultural context in which media signs are encountered. Thus the section on television, for example, begins with a short introduction to the history of the medium which extends back to John Logie Baird ... students will find much to consider in this book and will find much useful information. * Convergence (of the first edition) *
This book provides a comprehensive basic framework with which to understand semiotics: the study of signs and their uses in representation. It flows well and is written at the introductory level. The author proceeds from a historical perspective to modern application of semiotic theory in subjects such as ebooks, the Internet, and media convergence. Designed as a text, the book uses italics and bolding to highlight important points within each chapter and also includes a glossary as well as tables and figures where appropriate to enhance understanding. The paradox of mediation is perhaps the underlying theme for the book: The same culture that is capable of producing a work of inestimable cinematic art, such as Amadeus, is also capable of producing American TV wrestling matches ..., (p. 201). Danesi introduces media and their historical development, while inseparably tying media to culture. Interestingly, the author does not use the term culture; instead he refers to signifying order so as to highlight the fact that it constitutes a network of meaning structures, (p. 26). In short, Danesi takes the reader far beyond the Shannon and Weaver model of communication into a deeper understanding of meaning and attempts to improve the reader's linear as well as critical thinking skills ... At just over 200 pages in paperback, Understanding Media Semiotics is an ideal introductory text. * Communication Research Trends (of the first edition) *
Comprehensive in scope yet also readable and full of brilliant insights, Marcel Danesi's Understanding Media Semiotics 2nd edition is a path-breaking book that shows the central role that semiotics plays in helping us understand how the media shape our psyches, cultures and societies. Covering everything from branding, postmodernism, and visual rhetoric to social media, meme culture, and gangsta rap, Understanding Media Semiotics 2nd edition is highly recommended for courses in semiotics, media studies, popular culture, communications, and related disciplines. (Of the second edition) * Arthur Asa Berger, Professor Emeritus, San Francisco State University, USA *
Nearly two decades after the publication of the first edition of this now classic introductory textbook on media and semiotics, Professor Danesi, has completely rewritten and reorganized the original text to incorporate the exponential proliferation of technological innovations in the media since the new millennium. Danesi has developed many original theoretical notions to explain and interpret the meaning of these revolutions in communication in a clear, concise, and lucid fashion for readers from a wide variety of disciplines. Professor Danesi is the world's leading semiotician, and his work in this area is regarded as essential to our knowledge of how meaningful communication functions personally, socially, and historically. His explication of the semiotic method, or the interpretation of the significance of the various interactive modes of communication through the transmission and dissemination of cultural meaning, is the most comprehensive and comprehensible available. (Of second edition) * Frank Nuessel, Professor of Spanish, Italian and Linguistics, University of Louisville, USA *
Media today, demon and deity, expand in global networks that hold the world. On one hand, the plagues and joys of mass consciousness, on the other power and control of those in command, all interdependent and interconnected through the structures of hidden meanings propping the whole system. With recourse to one of the most ancient mediums at our disposal, the science of signs or semiotics, Marcel Danesi yet again offers the reader piercing insights - historical, cultural and theoretical - into world-wide communication today. (Of second edition) * Susan Petrilli, Professor of Philosophy and Theory of Languages, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy *
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