Synopsis
"Communications has helped to cement the connection of ideas and knowledge, the history of human communication is really a history, not of action, but of interaction"---Wilbur Schramm.
Wilbur Schramm was an early leader in the field of communications and did a lot in the development of the field of communications. He was the one, who shaped the field of communication, as it is understood today. His book "The Story Of Human Communication" focuses on the evolution of communication right from cave painting to a computer age of mass media in the present day.
The book tries to answer the questions about the history of human communication. The book can be divided into five parts. The first part contains the topics of origin of cave paintings, cosmic calendar, birth of language and the invention of writing. It explores cave paintings of Altamira in Spain, Lascaux in France and talks about prehistoric communication and the development of language and writing from non verbal-to-verbal concepts.
The second part is about the institutions of communication like the city, the school and the language of mathematics and science. Schramm talks about Ionian scholars in Greece and how mankind developed from Neolithic stage to the Homo sapiens stage.
The third part talks about the birth of Mass Media and institutions of communication like news, advertising, public relations, the growth of the Elite, Popular and the American press. It describes how news came into being and being and became an instrument of social control.
The fourth part underlies the origin of sound, film, radio, television, photography, telephone, and entertainment (high culture and popular culture0, and comments on how these new developments changed the pace of human life.
The fifth part concludes with some thoughts on the new importance of microelectronics, including computer and space communication. And what an age of communication might be like if we are indeed entering upon one.
"Communication is the broad field of human interchange of facts and opinions"-Redfield.

Commentary-
The story of human communication is a book that helps us understands what is communication? Communication is the Modus Operandi of social and commercial intercourse. It is the ability of mankind to communicate across barriers and beyond boundaries that has ushered the progress of mankind.
This book is written in simpole language and explains what is meant by communication. Human beings have the power to communicate through writing, conversions, television, movies, radio and so on. At no other point in history has the ability to communicate been as open as it is now. The book explains what exactly is the process of communication, what is communication and why is it so important. In the last century there have been scholars trying to research what is communication? And there is a field to study called 'communications'. One such researcher is Wilbur Schramm. Schramm is associated with nearly all-major communication research studies and theories, directly or indirectly.
This book is interesting and well suited for the students of Mass Media, because communication is the major factor underlying Mass Media. Without communication, there can be no Mass Media. Thus study of communication can help us understand the basics of journalism. Man learnt to communicate even before he learnt to speak, read and write. The art of communication has however evolved over the years from sounds, grunts, actions, gestures and gesticulations to the spoken word and thereafter to the world of reading, writing and modern sophisticated methods of communication.
Because communication is such an enormous topic, the book supplies, additional reference notes and indices, study aids as 'Suggestions for Further Reading' for people who want to research any topic. Illustrations and quotations have been used to introduce a topic. Schramm describes the ancient schools in Sumeria and Sparta; charts of how written letters and alphabets grew into their present form, data on the distribution of newspapers, radio, and television.
The most interesting chapter was "The Dawn Years" which gave accounts of ancient and pre-historic cave paintings. The chapter was very informative because it helped me understand the basic method of communication used by our ancestors. Another interesting chapter was on "The Birth of Language and Writing" which advocated how man learnt to communicate through speech and writing. The chapter on "Cosmic Calendar" was confusing, but informative.
One incident was of utmost interest in the book-man on treetops to see who was approaching their area. This was the beginning of news and the newspaper. It shows how man has been curious about things right from the stone ages.
Thus Schramm has succeeded in exploring and showing us how communication has developed from the Stone Age to the computer age.