Of Cigarettes, High Heels, and Other Interesting Things, Second Edition: An Introduction to Semiotics (Semaphores and Signs)

Why do people routinely risk their health by smoking cigarettes? Why do some females make walking a struggle by donning high heels? In a fully updated edition, the author attempts to answer such questions by explaining the discipline that endeavors to understand the human meaning quest: semiotics.

Why is it that certain members of the human species routinely put their survival at risk by smoking cigarettes? Why is it that some females make walking a struggle for themselves by donning high heel footwear? This book attempts to answer such questions. Such risky behaviors are obviously shaped by forces other than the instincts. Indeed, for no manifest genetic reason, humanity is constantly searching for a purpose to its existence; this search has led it to invent myths, art, rituals, languages, mathematics, science, and other truly remarkable things that set it apart from all other species. In this volume author Marcel Danesi shows us that the discipline that endeavors to understand the human meaning quest is known as semiotics. Danesi demonstrates how semiotics unravels the meanings of signs that make up the system of everyday life that we call a culture or a society. This book will engender in the reader the same kind of questioning and inquisitive frame of mind with which a semiotician approaches the subject matter of meaning. Basic semiotic ideas and analytical techniques are introduced via a seemingly fictional yet very telling scene, one which reveals a lot about the human need for meaning. The scene is a fashionable modern-day restaurant, and the fictional actions that occur allow Danesi to provide the semiotic version of the human drama in concrete terms. As Danesi argues, perhaps the greatest skill possessed by Homo Sapiens, literally the knowing animal, is the ability to know itself. This book reveals how semiotics helps to sharpen that ability considerably.

In this volume, author Marcel Danesi shows us that the discipline that endeavors to understand the human quest for meaning is known as semiotics. He demonstrates how semiotics unravels the meanings of signs that make up the system of what we call a culture or a society. This book will engender in the reader the same kind of analytical and inquisitive frame of mind with which a semiotician approaches the subject matter of meaning. Basic semiotic ideas and analytical techniques are introduced via a fictional - yet very telling - scene, one that reveals a lot about the human need for meaning. The scene is a fashionable modern-day restaurant, and the fictional actions that occur allow Danesi to provide the semiotic version of the human drama in concrete terms. "In this volume, Marcel Danesi shows us that the discipline that endeavors to understand the human quest for meaning is known as semiotics. He demonstrates how semiotics unravels the meanings of signs that make up the system of what we call a culture or society. This book will engender in the reader the same kind of analytical and inquisitive frame of mind with which a semiotician approaches the subject matter of meaning. As Danesi argues, perhaps the greatest skill possessed by Homo sapiens, literally the "knowing animal," is the ability to know itself. This book reveals how semiotics helps to sharpen that ability considerably."--Jacket. Front Matter....Pages i-xi Cigarettes and High Heels....Pages 1-21 What Does It Mean?....Pages 23-46 Makeup....Pages 47-67 Tell Me about Yourself....Pages 69-90 Kisses Sweeter Than Wine....Pages 91-114 Now, You Tell Me about Yourself....Pages 115-138 At Arm’s Length....Pages 139-156 What a Beautiful Ring!....Pages 157-176 Art Is Indistinguishable from Life....Pages 177-194 There’s More to Perfume Than Smell....Pages 195-217 Back Matter....Pages 219-235