Writing: The Stories of Alphabets and Scripts

by Georges Jean

Book Overview

The books in this wonderfully diverse series cover topics such as archaeology, art, culture, history, literature, science, and religion in a dynamic and informative way. The texts are bolstered by... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810928930
• ISBN13: 9780810928930
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 207 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.9" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

forgotten script translated through comparison

Georges work can be used by universities worldwide.I have been translating by useing the missing link for 40 years,he is good.He may have just saved me years of work on my native american to root chinese translations.

A richly illustrated overview of a fascinating topic.

Packed with wonderful pictures and illustrations, providing a general overview of the origins and developments of alphabetic writing systems. By no means in depth and probably not meant to be, rather an engaging and easily read introduction to the topic. Offers a generous listing for further reading as well as exerpts from other writers on the topic in the "Documents" section of the book.

Interesting intoduction, but not a full text

A small book, recapping briefly the history of writing from Akkad and Sumer through the development of printing in the West and China. There are, in fact, two sections: First, the overview of languages and writing, without an overly forceful emphasis on the West, which avoids the taint of cultural bias nicely; second, a group of documents ~ quotations ~ from all sorts of sources, about writing, the alphabets, ideograms, and more. The documents are interesting, though a little confused, especially as regarding the plates that illustrate them; it is not always possible to tell what is what. And the first section is a fascinating overview, well written (or well translated [from the French], it's hard to know with a translation), though with little in it i didn't actually know already. The most important thing that a book of this nature can do is to whet the appetite for more. Consider mine whetted.

Pleasing introduction to the history of writing

As a compact introduction to the whole history of writing, this little tome makes for a lovely hour's browsing. There is a lot of information packed into this book, and many color plates to serve as examples of the information contained in the text.However, this book is definately just an introduction to the subject. There is no way that such a small book, with more page space devoted to pictures than text, can provide anything more than a passing glance at the history it purports to cover.That said, I will again say that it is a very user-friendly, high-quality book about a fascinating subject often overlooked in our daily lives. I, myself, bought it specifically for the pictures; there are many, many books on the subject, but few so profusely illustrated.

It's the best book on the subject that I've ever seen.

This is an outstanding source book for anyone curious about not only the development of actual writing (calligraphy) but all the other historic and cultural influences as well. The format makes the material appealing and easy to read, and the illustrations are excellent. I've never before found so much relevant information on this subject in just one book--it's a real treasure.