Volume 70, Number 3 (July 2013), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics has been mailed and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

• Click here to download ETC 70:3 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

• "On Semantics and General Semantics: Re-Defining the Former to Understand the Latter" by Ben Hauck
• "The Science and Sanity of Listening" by Benjamin J. Cline
• "Awareness and Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior (Part 2) - Abstraction: Exploring Why the Map Is Not the Territory" by Mary P. Lahman
• "Loose Lips: Broadcast and Socially Mediated Political Rhetoric and the Sinking of the 2012 Senatorial Campaigns of Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock" by Jefferson Spurlock
• "The Textbook Writer" by Joseph A. DeVito
• Metaphors in Action:
  "Reality Is Boring, Media Are Magnetic" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
• 75th Anniversary Reprint:
  "Remembering Don Hayakawa" by Alan R. Hayakawa
  "The Empty Eye" by S. I. Hayakawa and Alan R. Hayakawa
  "Whatever I Call It, It Is" by Neil Postman
  "New Hope for the Technological Society: An Interview with Jacques Ellul" by Berta Sichel
  "Perspectives on Our Age: Jacques Ellul Speaks on His Life and Work, by Jacques Ellul. Edited by William H. Vandenburg; translated by Joachim Neugroschel. New York: The Seabury Press, 1981" by Terrance P. Moran
  "Media Tribes: Making Sense of Popular Culture, the Mass Media, and Everyday Life in America" by Arthur Asa Berger
  "The Electronic Imagination: Requiem for a Narrative" by Brian Donahue
• "For the Nonce (Excerpt)" by Phillip Dow
• Plus Book Reviews and Dates and Indexes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 70:3 is from a painting titled "Earth" by Nicole Wilson.

• Click here to view more art by Nicole Wilson.

Volume 70, Number 2 (April 2013), 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 70:2 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

• "Midlevel Abstracting: An Underserved Zone of General Semantics" by Richard Fiordo
• "General Semantics: Understanding Korzybski's Formulations" by Mary P. Lahman
• "This Old Sole" by Michael Moore
• "General Semantics and Effective Communication" by Geetha Bhasker
• "How Just Is Our Justice System?" by Frank J. Scardilli
• "Diasporic Creativity as a Non-Aristotelian Form of Communication" by Deepa Mishra
• "A Glossary: Usage Abbreviations of Mobile Phone SMS" by Thotapally Anjaneyulu
• Metaphors in Action:
  "Watching Television Is Like ..." by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
• Probes:
  "Food as a Social Medium and a Medium of Culture" by Peter Zhang
• 75th Anniversary Reprint:
  "The Brotherhood of Doctrines" by Alfred Korzybski
  "People in Quandaries: And Why They Are There" by Wendell Johnson
  "Semantics, General Semantics: An Attempt at Definition" by S. I. Hayakawa
  "etcetera" by e.e. cummings
• Poems:
  "I Know Not ..." by Shipra R. Upadhyay
  "She and He" by Darlyne Ibarra
  "Criss-cross" by Steven Jacobson
  "Homeward" by Steven Jacobson
  "The American Flag" by Danny P. Barbare
  "Janitor's Winter Poem" by Danny P. Barbare
  "Sustenance" by Jane Blanchard
  "Hold Out" by Jane Blanchard
  "Coupling" by Jane Blanchard
• Plus Book Reviews and News and Notes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 70:2 is from a painting titled "Mr. Neuro Semantic" by Dom Heffer.

• Click here to view more art by Dom Heffer.

The scope of the study and research of general semantics in India has been expanded through the opening of a Nodal Centre of Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics at Smt Chandibai Himathmal Mansukhani College, Mumbai.

The Centre was inaugurated on September 11, 2013, and it started functioning immediately thereafter. As a starting point, the Centre plans to institute certificate courses for both undergraduate and graduate students on various principles of general semantics.

In addition, the Centre shall conduct other academic programs from time to time on various aspects of general semantics.

• Click here to read the inauguration announcement for the Nodal Centre for General Semantics.

To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology, the original compendium of essays edited by D. David Bourland, Jr., and Paul Dennithorne Johnston on the form of English without "be verbs," is now available as a PDF ebook for download from the IGS Store.

About the Book

Examine the verbs of the "to be" family and you find a startling underlying assumption.  The words be, been, is, was, am, were, etc., have their logical basis in the idea that things stay the same.  The notion of identity -- a thing's absolute sameness with a similar thing or with itself over time -- has confused and corrupted thinking since the days of Aristotle.

Life means change: growth, learning, metamorphosis, decay.  Even the apparently changless earth changes, as moving plates push up mountains or split continents apart.  Today we often experience rapid social and technological change.  Yet our daily language has at its foundation the assumption that things don't change, an assumption that helps us focus and therefore "understand," but also leads us astray when we act as if things haven't changed, and they have.  How can we deal with this "two-edged sword" that both helps and hinders us in our daily lives?

E-Prime, a variant of English that eliminates the verbs of the "to be" family, makes us aware of the problem, and offers one solution.

Some of the benefits: lively, concise writing and speaking; clearer, more critical thinking; better communication, evaluation and decision-making.

Purchase the Book

• Click here to purchase To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology PDF Version in the IGS Store.

Mary P. Lahman, Ph.D., has recently created Awareness & Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior, a new ebook available for free download through the IGS Site.

UPDATE: Version 2 of this PDF has been uploaded to the IGS Store on September 7, 2013. Its cover is depicted here.

About the eBook

This 60-page PDF booklet aims at increasing awareness of faulty language behavior and motivating daily action to correct such behavior.

In the first two sections of the text, Dr. Lahman (Professor of Communication Studies at Manchester University) shows how general semantics can be used as a systematic inquiry into language behavior. In the remaining four sections, Dr. Lahman follows with an application of these formulations, including case studies.

• Click here to download Awareness & Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior in the IGS Store.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: General Semantics
Chapter 2: Abstraction
Chapter 3: Allness
Chapter 4: Inference-Observation Confusion
Chapter 5: Bypassing
Chapter 6: Differentiation Failures
Conclusion
References by Chapter
Glossary

About the Author

Mary P. Lahman, Ph.D., is Professor of Communication Studies at Manchester University.

Download the eBook

• Click here to download Awareness & Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior in the IGS Store.

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

• Click here to visit the Teaching Materials section of the General Semantics Learning Center.

Communications: The Transfer of Meaning, Don Fabun's 1968 book that comes with an instructor's guide and teaches general semantics with vivid illustrations, is now available as a PDF ebook for download from the IGS Store.

About the Book

A creatively illustrated introduction to communication and produced by award-winning editor and author Don Fabun, its brevity makes it an excellent supplement to courses in speech, journalism, language arts, media literacy, etc.

The PDF version comes as a .zip file containing an ebook version suitable for reading on Kindle, Nook, etc., a wide-format version that displays the illustrations as intended to be viewed, and an instructor's guide.

Purchase the Book

• Click here to purchase Communications: The Transfer of Meaning PDF Version in the IGS Store.

At the 14th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association, the Institute of General Semantics is sponsoring a panel presentation on teaching general semantics.

The session is titled “Teaching of General Semantics,” and it is scheduled for Thursday, June 20, 2013, at 2:15-3:30.  Panelist include Martin Levinson, Mary Lahman, and Corey Anton.

General Information

The Fourteenth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association
"Media Ecology Unplugged"
June 20–23, 2013
Grand Valley State University
Grand Rapids, Michigan
http://media-ecology.org/activities/index.html

IGS Panel

Moderator

Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University

Panel Presenters

Martin H. Levinson, Institute of General Semantics
Mary P. Lahman, Manchester University
Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University

Volume 70, Number 1 (January 2013), 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 70:1 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

• • "A Brief History of the Institute of General Semantics on Its Diamond Jubilee" by Martin H. Levinson
  • "Meta-Indexing the Abstraction of Irony and the Structural Differential" by Terry L. West
  • "Why 'General' Semantics" by Martin H. Levinson
  • "Some Thoughts on Consciousness of Abstracting, Meaning, and Truth" by Milton Dawes
  • "On Errors in Language" by Michael Moore
  • "Language and Politics" by Leonard R. N. Ashley
  • Metaphors in Action:
    "Sophistic Illustrated: Two Couplets for the Years of the Snake" by Peter Zhang
  • "Obituary Notice (Balvant K. Parekh: 1924-2013)" by Prafulla C. Kar
  • Poems:
    "Chronomentrophile" by A. J. Huffman
    "Proporational Verse" by K. J. Hannah
    "Piaget's Sagacity" by K. J. Hannah
    "Another Win: Political Bedfellows" by K. J. Hannah
  • Plus From the Editor, Book Reviews, and Dates and Indexes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 70:1 is a mixed media work titled "Fate" by Dan Moran.

• Click here to view more work by Dan Moran.

In Washington, DC, at the 99th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, the Institute of General Semantics will participate in the preconference sessions.

General Information

The 99th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association
"Connections"

Preconference: November 20, 2013
Conference: November 21-24, 2013

Washington, DC
http://www.natcom.org/convention.aspx?id=3139

 

IGS Panel

Description

PC06: Applied Semantics and Practical Communication across the Disciplines

November 20, 2013
8:00am - 12:00pm

Location: McKinley, Mezzanine Level, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel

This preconference session identifies and explores core concepts that span the field of communication and commonly reach across the curriculum of general education. It emphasizes the centrality of discourse and language, and it will provide attendees with resources for thinking about and teaching broad-based theory fundamental courses or communication theory-based courses across disciplines.

It is designed for both graduate students and professors who would like to deepen their command over fundamental communication concepts and theories and/or are seeking to expand their repertoire of teaching resources.

By bringing together communication scholars whose work integrates various fields and disciplines and by asking them to provide vital materials for attendees, this half-day session promises to make connections that reach across all courses within the discipline of communication and/or across multiple disciplines.

• Click here for additional information on the NCA preconferences.

Presenters

Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University
Richard Lanigan, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Adeena Karasick, Fordham University
Mary Lahman, Manchester University
Andrew Smith, Edinboro University
Lance Strate, Fordham University
Edward Tywoniak, Saint Mary’s College of California

The Institute of General Semantics has released Kindle and Nook formats for several of its titles, and we plan on publishing future works in these electronic formats.

Here is the current list of titles available in each format as of November 26, 2012 January 5, 2013 January 6, 2013 February 23, 2013.

Kindle Format

The following titles are available in Kindle format directly from Amazon.

• On the Binding Biases of Time and Other Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology by Lance Strate
• Communication Uncovered: General Semantics and Media Ecology by Corey Anton
• Think Smart, Talk Smart: How Scientists Think: A Guide to Effective Communication by Allan Laurence Brooks
• Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times by Martin H. Levinson
• In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa by Gerald Haslam and Janice E. Haslam
• More Sensible Thinking by Martin H. Levinson
• Korzybski And... edited by Corey Anton and Lance Strate
  
• Selections from Science and Sanity by Alfred Korzybski and edited by Lance Strate

Nook Format

The following titles are available in Nook format directly from Barnes & Noble.

• On the Binding Biases of Time and Other Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology by Lance Strate
• Communication Uncovered: General Semantics and Media Ecology by Corey Anton
• Think Smart, Talk Smart: How Scientists Think: A Guide to Effective Communication by Allan Laurence Brooks
• Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times by Martin H. Levinson
• In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa by Gerald Haslam and Janice E. Haslam
• More Sensible Thinking by Martin H. Levinson
• Korzybski And... edited by Corey Anton and Lance Strate
• Selections from Science and Sanity by Alfred Korzybski and edited by Lance Strate

Traditional Formats

The books above are also available from the IGS Store in softcover and hardcover formats.

• Click here to browse the IGS Store.