Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction

Easy reading, has all the essentials. These 'very short introductions' actually are very cool

Just the right amount of info. Well done.

The book is fine if you want to know the history of writing and script up to about a hundred years ago, then it falls flat. It barely covers scripts that were invented in the 20th century, Romanization, or how scripts are used on computers and the Internet. "Very short" is fine, but it could have had a better mix.

In recent reading of ancient history, I realized I didn't really understand the difference between an alphabet and other writing systems as well as I thought. This book answered that question and others about how writing works. Specifically, alphabets are not as different from pictographic and syllabaric forms as I was taught: rather than revolutions, they are largely evolutions, allowing a script to have fewer symbols. But in practice Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters can be used in ways approaching an alphabet or syllabary and languages like English that claim to be alphabet based having other symbols and notations that indicate ideas or pronunciation outside of the 26 characters (for example roadsigns, smileys (even before computers), and italics). I found every few pages some insight into language that made me go "aha!" or surprised me. I especially enjoyed the section on Japanese with its three different written forms, a useful analogy for thinking about ancient Egyptian. A great quick, enjoyable read, with a lot of information for its size.

Another excellent addition to this series from OUP! All in the Very Short Introduction series are able to attract very good specialists in their subject - and this addition doesn't disappoint.!JS

excellent little intro...as title suggests

An interesting read