The greatest invention : a history of the world in nine mysterious scripts
Ferrara, Silvia2023
Books
'The greatest invention' chronicles an uncharted journey, tracing the invention of writing across the globe, an invention that allowed us to leave a record of our lives. It is filled with past flashes of brilliance, present-day scientific research and the faint, fleeting echo of writing's future. Professor Silvia Ferrara, a modern-day adventurer who travels the world studying ancient texts, takes us along with her; we touch the knotted, coloured strings of the Incan quipu and consider the case of the Phaistos Disk. Ferrara takes us to the cutting edge of decipherment, where high-powered laser scanners bring tears to an engineer's eye, and further still, to gaze at the outline of writing's future.
Main title:
The greatest invention : a history of the world in nine mysterious scripts / Silvia Ferrara ; translated by Todd Portnowitz.
Author:
Ferrara, Silvia, authorPortnowitz, Todd, 1986-, translator
Imprint:
London : Picador, 2023.
Collation:
304 pages ; 20 cm
Notes:
Translated from the Italian.
ISBN:
9781529064780 (pbk. :)
Dewey class:
411.09
Language:
EnglishItalian
Subject:
BRN:
2612870
Bookmark link:
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