In his book, Nicholas Mirzoev (born 1962), Professor of Media, Visual Culture and Communications at New York University, suggests looking at the most celebrated images in history to contextualize and understand the modern visual world. Drawing on art history, sociology, semiotics and everyday experience, the author shows techniques for carefully reading images: from astronauts' selfies to impressionist self-portraits, from Alfred Hitchcock films to drone videos. Mirzoev invites us on a fascinating journey through visual revolutions in art and science: from new techniques in images in the 17th century to new styles in the visual arts in the 18th century to the invention of cinema, photography, X-rays in the 19th century. In today's networked world, mobile technology and social media provide opportunities for "visual activism" - the practice of producing and distributing images to manage political and social change.