Using a wide-ranging variety of texts the author reviews and evaluates a broad range of approaches to textual commentary, introducing the reader to the fundamental distinction between actual' and virtual' worlds in critical practice.

David Birch is Professor of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Central Queensland, Australia. Previously he taught at Murdoch University in Western Australia, and at the National University of Singapore, having completed his doctorate at the University of York, England.

Chapter 1 How texts mean; Chapter 2 Language, literature and scientific fictions; Chapter 3 Reading literary texts; Chapter 4 Reading texts closely; Chapter 5 The linguistics of text;