Book excerpt: The Routledge Companion to Semiotics provides the ideal introduction to semiotics, containing engaging essays from an impressive range of international leaders in the field. Topics covered include: the history, development, and uses of semiotics key theorists, including Saussure, Peirce and Sebeok crucial and contemporary topics such as biosemiotics, sociosemiotics and semioethics the semiotics of media and culture, nature and cognition. Featuring an extended glossary of key terms and thinkers as well as suggestions for further reading, this is an invaluable reference guide for students of semiotics at all levels.