“Miscommunication is the scandal that motivates the very concept of communication in the first place,” said John Peters in his book “Speaking into the Air.”
The book speaks about how communication is really miscommunication and the beauty and meaning behind it. It’s a topic that BYU-Idaho communication professor Dr. Lane Williams is passionate about.
“If we can just communicate, then everything will be fine,” Williams said. “We're in a fallen world. We're in a world where, like in so many other ways, we're never going to be able to perfectly communicate.”
In the David O. McKay Library’s new series “Book Talks: Books that Changed Me,” Williams will present his insights on Peters’ book and share the impact it had on his life.
“I'm going to bring in the idea that we get from Ether, that God gives us weaknesses, that we can become humble and thereby the Lord can strengthen us,” Williams said. “That can happen through our miscommunications. That can happen through those moments.”
The book talk is this Thursday at the library on campus in room 294 and it starts at 4:30 p.m. Williams’ talk kicks off the series for the semester and will be followed by two additional faculty book talks from Yohan Delton and William Bruger on Feb. 20 and Mar. 20.
“There is no university without a library,” Williams said. “There's no university without ideas that can change the world and most of them have moved the world forward. That's why we're here. It's not just to get a career. Hopefully it's to become a great disciple. Hopefully it's to become a career, but it's also to be changed by powerful ideas and powerful things that come through books.”
You can find more information about the series on the library’s Facebook.