Volume 69, Number 4 (October 2012), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics is arriving in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

• Click here to download ETC 69:4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

• "General Semantics, Science, and Medicine: A Quality Approach" by Richard Fiordo
• "Who's the Mother" by Bill Haase
• "Indexing the Religious Beliefs of America's Founders" by Martin H. Levinson
• "Fascism as a Semantic Void into the Meta-Narrative of Rational Modernity" by Alessandro Saluppo
• Two Poems:
  "Foreclosure" by Peter E. Murphy
  "Good Grief" by Peter E. Murphy
• "One God" by Ed Tywoniak and Frances Tywoniak
• "Objectivity--Does It Exist?" by Mark S. Tucker
• "Advanced Thinking: Mathematics, General Semantics ... Ways to Improve Relationships" by Milton Dawes
• "Formal Cause, Poiesis, Rhetoric: A Dialogue" by Eric McLuhan and Peter Zhang
• "Bindings and Becomings: Korzybski, Deleuze, and Ecological Thinking" by Peter Zhang and Eric Jenkins
• Metaphors in Action:
  "Two Generation Gaps" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
• Probes:
  "Philosophy How?" by Peter Zhang
• Plus From the Editor, Book Reviews, and Dates and Indexes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 69:4 is a photograph titled "Sincere Plastic Advertising" by Jeremy Wolff.

• Click here to view more work by Jeremy Wolff.

After many years of stellar service, Bill Petkanas has stepped down from his position as editor of the journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics, published by the Institute of General Semantics.

Ed Tywoniak, Associate Professor of Communication and Chair of the department of Communication at Saint Mary's College, will be replacing him starting with the January 2013 issue.

• Click here to order recent issues of ETC: A Review of General Semantics.
• Click here to learn more about ETC: A Review of General Semantics.

Volume 69, Number 3 (July 2012), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics will be out soon in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

• Click here to download ETC 69:3 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

• "Pivotal Terms in Media Ecology: A Dialogue" by Eric McLuhan and Peter Zhang
• "Two Assignments Introducing Studetns to Mapping Problems" by Tim Lyons
• "The Meaning of Freedom: Āzādi, Alas!" by K. Narayana Chandran
• "Advanced Thinking: Mathematics, General Semantics ... Ways to Improve Relationships" by Milton Dawes
• "The Challenges of Denotative and Connotative Meaning for Second-Language Learners" by Youssif Zaghwani Omar
• Metaphors in Action:
  "Robots and Love" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
• Probes:
  "Numerotherapy and Its Metamessage" by Peter Zhang
• Plus Book Reviews.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 69:3 is a work titled "The Faculties" by Dom Heffer.

• Click here to view more art by Dom Heffer.

The Drug Problem: A New View Using the General Semantics Approach, Martin Levinson's 2002 book that brings the advantages of general semantics to the drug abuse problem is now available as a PDF ebook for download from the IGS Store.

About the Book

Current approaches to the drug problem are not working and almost everyone agrees that more effective solutions are needed. This comprehensive volume offers a dynamic new approach to understanding and solving the drug problem. This text applies the techniques and formulations of general semantics to investigate and make recommendations about various aspects of drug abuse. General semantics, a process problem-solving approach based on the primacy of the scientific method and importance of language as a shaper of thoughts and perceptions, has a proven record of success in problem-solving across a wide variety of disciplines and fields.

Topics examined include American drug history and policy, the legalization issue, drugs and creativity, treatment, and prevention. A chronological overview of drug-taking in human history and a resource guide are provided. One chapter offers an in-depth description of an effective drug abuse prevention model and a program using the model.

About the Author

Martin H. Levinson, PhD, is the president of the Institute of General Semantics and vice president of the New York Society for General Semantics.  He is the author of numerous articles and several books on general semantics and other subjects.  His latest book is Brooklyn Boomer Growing up in the Fifties (2011).

Purchase the Book

Volume 69, Number 2 (April 2012), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics will be out soon in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

• Click here to download ETC 69:2 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

• "The Place of the Other" by Gary Gumpert and Susan J. Drucker
• "Reflections on Writing in the Twenty-First Century and GS Strategies for Teaching It" by Philip Vasallo
• "Teaching Writing through General Semantics and General Semantics through Writing: A Stylistic Approach" by Richard Fiordo
• "A Difference That Makes a Difference" by Bruce Kodish
• "A General Semantics Analysis of the RMS Titanic Disaster" by Martin H. Levinson
• "The Language of Scam Spams: Linguistic Features of 'Nigerian Fraud' E-mails" by Deborah Schaffer
• "Hidden Divinities" by Michael Moore
• "The Rhetorical-Theatrical Sensibility as Equipment for Living" by Peter Zhang, Yi Z, and Xi Yang
• "What Is True, and What Is Real, Providing the Non-Aristotelian Tools to Orient You" by Gary M. Jaron
• "Meaning in Silence as the Quaker Tradition" by Michael H. Plugh
• "Plausible Quotations and Reverse Credibility in Online Vernacular Communities" by Quentin J. Schultze and Randall L. Bytwerk
• Metaphors in Action:
  "Is the Computer a Communist?" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
• "Probes: Chiasmus as a Mode of Probing of the Lord and Man" by Peter Zhang
• Plus Book Reviews and Dates & Indexes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 69:2 is a work titled "Jerusalem Stone" by Kyle Perler.

• Click here to view more art by Kyle Perler.

Trained engineer and communications expert Allan Laurence Brooks has recently published Think Smart, Talk Smart: How Scientists Think: A Guide to Effective Communication, a new book available in the IGS Store.

About the Book

No one doubts that science underlies every tangible aspect of our lives, but few people apply its systematic style of thinking to improve their communication styles. To get the most out of science, it’s important to understand science as a style of thinking rather than just a forbidding collection of facts and mathematics. Individuals who learn how scientists collect evidence, evaluate facts, and draw conclusions can improve their own thought processes and overcome shortcomings.

Written by a trained engineer and communications expert, this guidebook provides the tools you need to sharpen your thinking skills, hone your communication skills, refine your evaluation of data, and improve your objectivity. You’ll also learn important theories and ways of thinking from scientists and scholars such as Albert Einstein, Aristotle, Marshall McLuhan, Werner Heisenberg, and many others.

By sharing case studies and questioning assumptions, author Allan Laurence Brooks provides a roadmap that allows you to immediately improve your communication with others. Leave obstacles behind and approach life like a scientist with Think Smart, Talk Smart.

About the Author

Allan Laurence Brooks holds a master's degree in communication studies; he has forty-five years of experience as a graduate engineer. He has taught communications for more than fifteen years and was a member of the English Department of the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, New York. He currently lives in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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At the 13th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association, the Institute of General Semantics is sponsoring a panel presentation on the importance of general semantics to more effective human communication.

General Information

The Thirteenth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association
"The Crossroads of the Word"
June 7–10, 2012
Manhattan College
Riverdale, New York
http://media-ecology.org/activities/index.html

IGS Panel

Moderator

Lance Strate

Panel Presenters

Corey Anton
Martin H. Levinson

Today, the Board of Trustees of the Institute of General Semantics elected two new trustees: Edward E. Tywoniak and Kristene A. Doyle.

Edward Tywoniak

Edward E. Tywoniak, Ed.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, School of Liberal Arts, of Saint Mary’s College of California.  Dr. Tywoniak has been a professor of Communication at Saint Mary's College of California for over 30 years, and the upcoming 2012-13 academic year marks his third appointment as Chair of the department of Communication. He currently sits on the Core Curriculum Committee and the Technology Advisory Committee, is a Faculty Fellow for Curriculum and Technology, and is a W. M. Keck Research Fellow and Director of the Digital Studies program within the School of Liberal Arts at Saint Mary's College. Other current board affiliations include membership on the board of directors for the Media Ecology Association, the board of trustees of the School of Applied Theology at the Berkeley Graduate Theology Union, and the board of directors of EBI--a non-profit organization serving the developmentally disabled adult population of the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Kristene A. Doyle

Kristene A. Doyle, Ph.D., is the Director of the Albert Ellis Institute in New York City.  At the Albert Ellis Institute, Dr. Doyle is also a Staff Psychologist, the Director of Clinical Services, the Director of Child and Family Services, and a Training and Development Coordinator.  She has been a clinical supervisor for both the childhood clinical track and the school psychology doctoral program at St. John's University since 2000.  She received her doctorate in combined clinical and school psychology from Hofstra University in 1999.

Our Board

• Click here for the current list of the Institute of General Semantics board of trustees.

Volume 69, Number 1 (January 2012), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics will be out soon in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

• Click here to download ETC 69:1 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

• "Silent Cal and the Invisible Audience: the Sociotechnological Significance of the Presidential Voice" by James Eric (Jay) Black
• "Science Fiction Language/Political Reporting: Communicating News via Words from Nowhere Real" by Marleen S. Barr
• "No One Saw This Coming: Korzybski's Concerns, Predictions, and Time-Binding Suggestions" by Milton Dawes
• "Indexing Africa" by Martin H. Levinson
• "Binding Places and Time: Reflections on Fluency in Media Ecology" by Karen Lollar
• "Twitter and the New Publicity" by Joseph Faina
• "Chronemics: Time-Binding and the Construction of Personal Time" by Tom Bruneau
• Metaphors in Action:
  "A Music Concert as a Metaphor" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
• "Probes: Homo Faber" by Peter Zhang
• Plus Book Reviews.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 69:1 is a work titled "Golan Thorns" by Kyle Perler.

• Click here to view more art by Kyle Perler.

Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D., has recently created A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics, a new booklet available for free download through the IGS Store.

About the Booklet

Debuting at the 59th Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture in October 2011 as a gift to registrants, the 47-page booklet A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics offers guidance for teachers interested in creating a course for students of general semantics.

Originally available in hard copy, A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics is now available as a PDF.

Table of Contents

Lesson I: Science-Related Ideas for Effective Communication and Problem-Solving
Lesson II: Mental Maps—The Way to Better Planning and Prediction
Lesson III: Extensional and Intensional Orientations—How Real is Real?
Lesson IV: Non-Allness—No One Can Know All there is to Know About Anything
Lesson V: "Indexing"—Getting Closer to What is Really Going On
Lesson VI: "Dating"—We Live in a Changing World
Lesson VII: Two-Valued Orientations—The Limitations of Our "Either-Or" Language
Lesson VIII: Distinguishing Facts from Inferences—Language and Reality
Lesson IX: Nonverbal Communication—The Semantics of Silence
Lesson X: Signal-Symbol Reactions—Keeping Your Cool
Lesson XI: Increasing Semantics Awareness—The Structural Differential
Lesson XII: Asking Constructive Questions—Ones that Show an Extensional Orientation

About the Author

Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D., is the President of the Institute of General Semantics and the author of numerous articles and several books on general semantics and other subjects. His latest book is Brooklyn Boomer: Growing Up in the Fifties (2011).

Download the Booklet

The booklet is also redundantly available in the General Semantics Learning Center under Teaching Materials.