MARC Record from harvard_bibliographic_metadata

LEADER: 02804cam a2200373 a 45e0
001 009219070-7
005 20070319114326.0
008 991116r19991995enkab b 001 0 eng
010 $a 95060276
015 $aGB99-U8525
020 $a0500281564 (pbk.)
035 0 $aocm42875295
040 $aUKM$cUKM$dC#P$dTOZ
050 4 $aP211$b.R6 1999
082 04 $a302.2244$221
090 $aP211$b.R6 1999x
100 1 $aRobinson, Andrew,$d1957-
245 14 $aThe story of writing /$cAndrew Robinson.
246 38 $aStory of writing : alphabets, hieroglyphs & pictograms
250 $a1st pbk. ed.
260 $aLondon :$bThames & Hudson,$c1999.
300 $a224 p. :$bill. (some col.), col. maps ;$c26 cm.
500 $aOriginally published: United States, 1995.
500 $a"With over 350 illustrations, 50 in color."
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 218-219) and index.
505 0 $aI. How Writing Works. Ch. 1. Reading the Rosetta Stone. Ch. 2. Sound, Symbol and Script. Ch. 3. Proto-Writing -- II. Extinct Writing. Ch. 4. Cuneiform. Ch. 5. Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Ch. 6. Linear B. Ch. 7. Mayan Glyphs. Ch. 8. Undeciphered Scripts -- III. Living Writing. Ch. 9. The First Alphabet. Ch. 10. New Alphabets From Old. Ch. 11. Chinese Writing. Ch. 12. Japanese Writing. Ch. 13. From Hieroglyphs to Alphabets -- and Back?
520 $aWriting is perhaps humanity's greatest invention. Without it there would be no history and no civilization as we know it. The Story of Writing is the first book to demystify writing for the general reader. In a succinct and absorbing text, Andrew Robinson explains the interconnection between sound, symbol and script, and goes on to discuss each of the major writing systems in turn, from cuneiform and Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan today. He explores "proto-writing," including Ice Age symbols, tallies and Amerindian pictograms, and surveys the astonishing multiplicity of alphabets - not only Greek, Roman, Hebrew, Arabic and Indian scripts, but also the Cherokee "alphabet" and the writing of runes.
520 8 $aFull coverage is given to the story of decipherment, and how the words of past ages have been brought back to life through the efforts of Champollion, Ventris and others. And in a provocative chapter devoted to as yet undeciphered scripts, Andrew Robinson challenges the reader: can the code of the Indus script, Cretan Linear A, the Phaistos Disc or Easter Island ever be broken? Armchair decipherers who read this book will be well placed to make discoveries that herald the next breakthrough.
650 0 $aWriting$xHistory.
650 0 $aAlphabet.
650 0 $aSymbolism in communication$xHistory.
655 7 $aHistory.$2fast
988 $a20031020
906 $0OCLC