Alpha Beta How 26 Letters Shaped the Western World

Name: Alpha Beta How 26 Letters Shaped the Western World
Price: 3.59 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780471415749

ISBN-10: 047141574X

ISBN-13: 9780471415749

Edition: 2000

Authors: John Man

List price: $24.95

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The amazing saga of our quest for written language "A fascinating story."-New Scientist "This book comes at the perfect moment-as we rediscover the importance in early reading of cracking the alphabetic code .' "-Times Educational Supplement In the tradition of the international bestseller The Universal History of Numbers, John Man has written a wonderfully engaging narrative that could be considered the "universal history" of letters. Alpha Beta shows how our alphabet came to be, from man's earliest scratches on bone to the first wedge-shaped marks in Mesopotamian clay, from the Pharaoh's hieroglyphics to the Torah's innovative characters, from Homer's quest to the lost culture of the…

Book details

List price: $24.95
Copyright year: 2000
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated
Publication date: 7/13/2001
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 320
Size: 5.50" wide x 8.25" long x 1.25" tall
Weight: 0.946
Language: English



Foreword


Introduction: Of Giants and Genius



The Trouble with Pictures



The Bearable Burden of Syllables



Letters in the Wilderness



The Search for the Perfect Alphabet



Into Sinai



The Land of Purple



The Selfish Alphabet



The Great Leap Forward



Why We Don't Write Etruscan



The Limits to Growth


Appendix 1


Appendix 2


Bibliography


Acknowledgements


Index