Overview

Pictures are a fundamental aspect of how we express ourselves, and cave paintings are among our oldest records of intelligence. Yet, despite their importance, why don’t most people feel they can draw, and why are pictures often considered less important than language? For over 20 years, Neil Cohn has pioneered research around these questions within the fields of linguistics and cognitive neuroscience, and this book is the result, heralding a new paradigm of language, drawing, and communication, all accessibly presented as a non-fiction graphic novel. This work challenges the conventional understandings of how pictures communicate, how people learn to draw, and the nature of language itself. With humor and a clear, friendly, and accessible tone, Speaking in Pictures introduces ground-breaking research by doing what it discusses: intertwining pictures and words into a single message as a non-fiction graphic novel, taking the reader on an inspiring journey through the study of communication and the mind.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dr Neil Cohn (Tilburg University, The Netherlands)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions:   Width: 18.80cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 24.40cm
Weight:   0.717kg
ISBN:  

9781350402164

ISBN 10:   1350402168
Pages:   328
Publication Date:   19 February 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.

Table of Contents

Prologue Acknowledgements 1. What is Visual Language? 2. The Packaging of Thought 3. Getting a Handle on Meanings 4. Drawing Sounds 5. Visual Vernacular 6. Growing a Language 7. Meaningful Attachments 8. Frontiers of Mental Space 9. From Strings to Trees 10. Drawn Across Space and Time 11. The Drawing Instinct Endnotes References Index

Reviews

Author Information

Neil Cohn is Associate Professor of Communication and Cognition at Tilburg University, the Netherlands. He is the author of The Visual Language of Comics (2013), Who Understands Comics? (2020), and editor of The Visual Narrative Reader (2016).

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions