I sometimes read how hands have made humans what they are. I am impressed by hands and what they do, from delicate surgery to playing instruments to pottery to pitching baseballs and passing that odd-shaped American football. But, I think, in the larger scheme of things, a very good case can be made for the human voice mechanisms as the most powerful tools of people. I enjoy reading about the invention of the printing press, the development of speech, the development and current use of the internet and world-wide web, television and movies. I also read that a man's physician told him to show the doctor his sexual equipment and the man, no doubt an older man, held up his hands while sticking out his tongue. In the past couple of years, I have read several articles about the deep desire of most humans, maybe all, to have satisfying relations with other people and that almost always means communicating with them.
When I think of books about communication and its history, I immediately think of "What Hath God Wrought" by Daniel Walker Howe and "From Gutenberg to Google" by Tom Wheeler. Modern education from primary grades to graduate and professional school is filled with communication and it is a major force for developing not only the human mind but also the desire to recognize and communicate one's own thoughts and feelings. It is well-known that if people of the right age and structure get together, they may develop additional human beings. All sorts of variables of shape and texture contribute to bringing them together in that "creative" way but older people often experience language and communication as maybe the most important force bringing and keeping people close.
