How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Remember to smile a lot, John Renfrew thought moodily. People seemed to like that. They never wondered why you kept on smiling, no matter what was said. It was a kind of general sign of good will, he supposed, one of the tricks he could never master. (1.1)
From the very first sentence, we see Renfrew struggling with a non-verbal form of communication—body language. Remember: This man is responsible for transmitting the message that might save the world, so his difficulties in communicating with people will, of course, bode well for the future of humanity.
Quote #2
"I got these, though." Cooper laid out another green rectangle. It showed a mixed pattern. At the right was a clean peak, its sides smooth and untroubled. But the center and left of the page was a meaningless jumble of scratchings. (3.41)
And here is the first occurrence of Renfrew's message coming into the past. But Gordon doesn't have the key to decipher it yet, so it just seems like a bunch of noise. Also, he doesn't know it's even a form of communication, making it even less likely he'll understand it. Imagine sending a text message to a knight in the Middle Ages, and you'll see the problem here.
Quote #3
From long exposure to the new methods of making books [Renfrew] had forgotten how a line of type could raise an impression on the other side of the page, as if the press of history was behind each word. The heavily leaded letters were broad and the ink a deep black. The ample margins, the precise celestial drawings, the heft of the volume in his hands, all seemed to speak of a time when the making of books was a signpost in an assumed march forward, a pressure on the future. (10.69)
Another form of communication explored in the novel is written communication, which can keep thoughts and ideas alive for centuries. The invention of written communication is arguably the most important tool in human history, but like Renfrew, it is something we can take for granted in our modern era.