This companion volume to Communicating: The Multiple Modes of Human Communication (2023) embarks on a profound exploration of humanity's tools of expression, spanning voice, pen, brush, and musical instruments. Generously illustrated, The Strange Tools of Human Communication: The Voice, The Pen, and The Lyre, redefines communication by examining not only traditional tools but also the subconscious influence of colour, numbers, and symbols in our interactions. 

 

Through a blend of scholarly research, personal insights, and field experiences – from the oral tales of Sierra Leone's Limba storytellers to ancient cave art and modern iconography – the book offers fresh perspectives on how we connect across time and cultures. 

 

Challenging the idea that spoken language alone defines humanity, it instead emphasises the crucial role of hands, gestures, and artistic forms as the foundation of human communication. Readers are invited to consider the possibility of an ancestral, shared consciousness and the mysterious similarities in ancient art worldwide. 

 

Celebrating the continuity of human experience, The Strange Tools of Human Communication: The Voice, The Pen, and The Lyre, ultimately contemplates the future of communication, weaving a rich narrative that highlights the tools, subconscious connections, and shared history that bind us to each other and to the natural world.   

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Manuscript submitted to Routledge Publishers, November 2024