Book excerpt: Unlike any book before it, this volume embodies the state-of-the-art regarding the experimental study of human communication, by bringing together cutting edge findings from psycholinguistics, communication, cognition, neuroscience, language, and identity. Whether linguistic or nonverbal, communication poses unique computational challenges that reveal secrets of the mind/brain and social cognition unlike anything else. This volume is both a stimulating journey for the general language/communication reader, as well as a great research tool for graduate students, advanced undergraduate students, and investigators.