This book describes what communication has to do with the nature of being human, and what being human has to do with communication. The very nature of being human hinges upon learning how to communicate: upon learning and using the communicative codes for comprehending what others will express, for expressing what others will comprehend, and for participating in the never-ending social process of constructing and reconstrucing human reality in communication. This book brings together several essays in understanding. Their purpose is to call into question some of the conventional wisdom that informs our thinking about human communication today.