This accessible primer provides a comprehensive account of the many developments in the study of metaphor over the last 20 years of the 20th century, and their impact on our understanding of language, culture, and the mind. Beginning with Lakoff and Johnson´s seminal work in Metaphors We Live By, the author outlines the development of the cognitive linguistic theory of metaphor by explaining key ideas on metaphor. He also explores primary metaphor, metaphor systems, the invariance principle, mental-imagery experiments, the many-space blending theory, and the role of image schemas in metaphorical thought. He examines the applicability of these ideas to numerous related fields.