What do you think?
Rate this book
The Lost Art of Handwriting: Rediscover the Beauty and Power of Penmanship
Revisit the lost art of writing with these fun prompts, worksheets, exercises—and more!—and experience the many benefits of writing by hand, including increased focus and memory, relaxation, and creative expression.
Writing by hand may seem passé in the digital age, but it shouldn’t be dismissed as simply an activity for grade schoolers—it offers countless benefits that have been studied by researchers, brain neurologists, therapists, educators, and others who are invested in helping handwriting thrive in an age of advancing technology. Handwriting may be slower than typing—but this gives your brain more time to process information, and stimulates neurological connections that aid in memory, focus, and composition. The process of handwriting can also have a soothing, calming effect and can even serve as a great form of meditation. And of course, it’s a great way of expressing your individuality and personal style.
The Lost Art of Handwriting explores the history of writing longhand, and reintroduces proper stroke sequences, letter forms, and techniques for evaluating and improving your handwriting. You will discover how the amazing variety of letter forms provide endless opportunities for making these alphabets your own, and how to choose alternatives that fit your preferences while keeping your writing neat, consistent, and unique to you. You’ll learn how to connect letters in cursive writing to help you write more smoothly, and with practice, more efficiently. Learn how easy it is to apply what you’ve learned into your everyday life with tips for integrating handwriting practice into already jam-packed schedules.
Soon, you’ll notice a steady increase in the relaxation, value, and joy that handwriting offers to everyone who persists in putting the pen or pencil to paper.
Writing by hand may seem passé in the digital age, but it shouldn’t be dismissed as simply an activity for grade schoolers—it offers countless benefits that have been studied by researchers, brain neurologists, therapists, educators, and others who are invested in helping handwriting thrive in an age of advancing technology. Handwriting may be slower than typing—but this gives your brain more time to process information, and stimulates neurological connections that aid in memory, focus, and composition. The process of handwriting can also have a soothing, calming effect and can even serve as a great form of meditation. And of course, it’s a great way of expressing your individuality and personal style.
The Lost Art of Handwriting explores the history of writing longhand, and reintroduces proper stroke sequences, letter forms, and techniques for evaluating and improving your handwriting. You will discover how the amazing variety of letter forms provide endless opportunities for making these alphabets your own, and how to choose alternatives that fit your preferences while keeping your writing neat, consistent, and unique to you. You’ll learn how to connect letters in cursive writing to help you write more smoothly, and with practice, more efficiently. Learn how easy it is to apply what you’ve learned into your everyday life with tips for integrating handwriting practice into already jam-packed schedules.
Soon, you’ll notice a steady increase in the relaxation, value, and joy that handwriting offers to everyone who persists in putting the pen or pencil to paper.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2019
826 people are currently reading
542 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 23, 2020
This is an excellent, excellent primer for anyone who simply wants legible handwriting.
Many penmanship books are shelved in the calligraphy section and are intended for calligraphers in training. But this simple volume takes you back to the basics and explains clearly what makes handwriting GOOD handwriting.
"What makes handwriting legible? [...] consistency. Consistency in size, slant, spacing, style, and pressure." p. 28
With that, she takes you through drills and exercises (using quotes) to improve on these five elements. The use of quotes makes it far more interesting to practice than simply copying alphabets over and over. She explains variations on alphabets and also introduces the cursory learner to a cliff note understanding of different hands, without demanding the audience be "loyal" to any particular script. She explains how to do entry and exist strokes in different ways to create your own unique style.
Jordan explains how, with graphology and graphotherapy, some people view handwriting as a micro-reflection of your habits in life and choose to improve their handwriting to improve elements in their life. She demonstrates how to ask questions of your handwriting and link it back to how you comport yourself in other areas of your life. In analyzing my handwriting at the beginning, I realized that I have 1) no follow through, 2) too much pressure, and 3) no flair. Which seemed entirely metaphoric for my life.
It took me five months to work through the book and my writing has improved exponentially. I can happily report that I can now consistently write in either cursive or print, my slant has improved, my follow-through is consistent, and I am slowly getting comfortable with adding flair to my writing.
Consequently, I realized that most things in life are a matter of doing drills. And if you do small, 5-minute drills on something every day you are bound to improve as a matter of route. Having realized this, my follow-through in the rest of my life has dramatically improved. I also decided that applying too much pressure when writing makes my hand hurt so I stopped. Feeling too much pressure in other areas of my life made my brain hurt, so I've stopped it there too. As for flair? I'm working on it.
So I guess you could say, improving your writing does indeed improve other areas of your life.
Besides that, it's just fun.
You will need a practice book and tracing paper.
Enjoy!
Many penmanship books are shelved in the calligraphy section and are intended for calligraphers in training. But this simple volume takes you back to the basics and explains clearly what makes handwriting GOOD handwriting.
"What makes handwriting legible? [...] consistency. Consistency in size, slant, spacing, style, and pressure." p. 28
With that, she takes you through drills and exercises (using quotes) to improve on these five elements. The use of quotes makes it far more interesting to practice than simply copying alphabets over and over. She explains variations on alphabets and also introduces the cursory learner to a cliff note understanding of different hands, without demanding the audience be "loyal" to any particular script. She explains how to do entry and exist strokes in different ways to create your own unique style.
Jordan explains how, with graphology and graphotherapy, some people view handwriting as a micro-reflection of your habits in life and choose to improve their handwriting to improve elements in their life. She demonstrates how to ask questions of your handwriting and link it back to how you comport yourself in other areas of your life. In analyzing my handwriting at the beginning, I realized that I have 1) no follow through, 2) too much pressure, and 3) no flair. Which seemed entirely metaphoric for my life.
It took me five months to work through the book and my writing has improved exponentially. I can happily report that I can now consistently write in either cursive or print, my slant has improved, my follow-through is consistent, and I am slowly getting comfortable with adding flair to my writing.
Consequently, I realized that most things in life are a matter of doing drills. And if you do small, 5-minute drills on something every day you are bound to improve as a matter of route. Having realized this, my follow-through in the rest of my life has dramatically improved. I also decided that applying too much pressure when writing makes my hand hurt so I stopped. Feeling too much pressure in other areas of my life made my brain hurt, so I've stopped it there too. As for flair? I'm working on it.
So I guess you could say, improving your writing does indeed improve other areas of your life.
Besides that, it's just fun.
You will need a practice book and tracing paper.
Enjoy!
December 18, 2025
Very basic and practical book for learning or brushing up on cursive handwriting. Not a lot of extra fluff, just simple instructions and lots of worksheets to practice. The book includes different styles and variations of cursive that you can experiment with, but doesn't get too crazy and most of what's offered feels pretty manageable for average writers to learn. I haven't worked through the entire book, but I keep coming back to it over the years when I want a refresher on my cursive.
March 21, 2021
The ship has sailed! Unfortunately the art of handwriting is likely to continue to decrease over coming years except for those who chose to practice the arcane art - outside of the very occasional need for a signature, the need to handwrite decreases every year.
As a child in Ireland in the 1960s I was strongly encouraged to write with my right hand even though I was determinately left-handed. I prevailed, and to this day I write with my left.
My wife, on the other hand, was forced to write with her right hand and ended up somewhat doublehanded (which might have come in handy had she chosen to pursue a life of forgery - she didn't).
In my early to late 20s I kept a record of things which interested me and, tbh, that encouraged an attempt to improve my writing style - with mixed results.
In most of my working life as a reporter I worked on computers and the need to actually handwrite anything outside of a note to a colleague decreased every year.
However, at the very start of my career, we used typewriters and that generated paper which needed to be corrected. There was an extensive list of Printers Correction Marks which were inserted on the original article before it was sent to be printed (on hot metal). I suspect that this is now a dead art.
I also wonder whether Shorthand can survive in a digital age - I never mastered it but have a certificate saying I have 100wpm (thereby hangs an interesting tale of cheating and retribution!)
Over the years I have occasionally thought that I might indulge in Calligraphy, so far I have not succumbed but, who knows, there is always the chance.
I collect old Dublin postcards and one of the joys of examining them is the handwriting - some are absolutely gorgeous, a lot is just about decipherable, and some are downright illegible (so not every one 100 years ago was a great writer!).
"The Lost Art of Handwriting" is a lovely book in many ways, it certainly brought back memories of my early attempts to get it right, but I believe that handwriting is destined to continue to decline.
As a child in Ireland in the 1960s I was strongly encouraged to write with my right hand even though I was determinately left-handed. I prevailed, and to this day I write with my left.
My wife, on the other hand, was forced to write with her right hand and ended up somewhat doublehanded (which might have come in handy had she chosen to pursue a life of forgery - she didn't).
In my early to late 20s I kept a record of things which interested me and, tbh, that encouraged an attempt to improve my writing style - with mixed results.
In most of my working life as a reporter I worked on computers and the need to actually handwrite anything outside of a note to a colleague decreased every year.
However, at the very start of my career, we used typewriters and that generated paper which needed to be corrected. There was an extensive list of Printers Correction Marks which were inserted on the original article before it was sent to be printed (on hot metal). I suspect that this is now a dead art.
I also wonder whether Shorthand can survive in a digital age - I never mastered it but have a certificate saying I have 100wpm (thereby hangs an interesting tale of cheating and retribution!)
Over the years I have occasionally thought that I might indulge in Calligraphy, so far I have not succumbed but, who knows, there is always the chance.
I collect old Dublin postcards and one of the joys of examining them is the handwriting - some are absolutely gorgeous, a lot is just about decipherable, and some are downright illegible (so not every one 100 years ago was a great writer!).
"The Lost Art of Handwriting" is a lovely book in many ways, it certainly brought back memories of my early attempts to get it right, but I believe that handwriting is destined to continue to decline.
Read
December 17, 2024Primarily a workbook to demonstrate and practice basic letterforms. Looks great for what it is, not quite what I was looking for.
January 14, 2023
I took a long time to work through this and I found it a little bit helpful but not spectacular. I probably have a mild form of dysgraphia (not officially diagnosed but lots of the signs are present) and I was shamed for my handwriting repeatedly, by teachers and other adults, throughout grade school. I started trying to improve my handwriting on my own in college and have made some progress, although it takes a lot of effort. I've been interested in different lettering styles for some craft projects I've been working on, and hoped to learn some tips.
The exercises had some useful tips, but everything was pretty general. For someone who wanted to use a different handwriting style for a project/sign/document, the assumption seems to be that you practice a few lines and then, ta da! I can't do that, I guess. There were also a couple of examples when the author suggested flourishes or other artsy additions, which made the resulting word almost completely unreadable for me (dyslexia!).
This is probably fun for people looking at handwriting styles, or just to improve their everyday handwriting, and who have absolutely no learning or fine motor disabilities.
The exercises had some useful tips, but everything was pretty general. For someone who wanted to use a different handwriting style for a project/sign/document, the assumption seems to be that you practice a few lines and then, ta da! I can't do that, I guess. There were also a couple of examples when the author suggested flourishes or other artsy additions, which made the resulting word almost completely unreadable for me (dyslexia!).
This is probably fun for people looking at handwriting styles, or just to improve their everyday handwriting, and who have absolutely no learning or fine motor disabilities.
June 27, 2023
Excellent resource for penmanship! Much appreciation for this book!
A Wonderful Reminder of my lifelong passion for cursive handwriting. I was taught cursive handwriting in second grade and I have had an obsession for clear, concise handwriting ever since. Plus, I was a teacher's daughter so it was mandatory I learn the proper skills for writing. I was dismayed when I learned "Penmanship or Cursive Writing" was no longer taught in school. I do not not understand this. Legible handwriting is a vital life skill in my opinion. This book is a very pleasant read of the how and why penmanship is so powerful! I read this book with Kindle Unlimited but plan to purchase my own copy. Love it! 💜
A Wonderful Reminder of my lifelong passion for cursive handwriting. I was taught cursive handwriting in second grade and I have had an obsession for clear, concise handwriting ever since. Plus, I was a teacher's daughter so it was mandatory I learn the proper skills for writing. I was dismayed when I learned "Penmanship or Cursive Writing" was no longer taught in school. I do not not understand this. Legible handwriting is a vital life skill in my opinion. This book is a very pleasant read of the how and why penmanship is so powerful! I read this book with Kindle Unlimited but plan to purchase my own copy. Love it! 💜
November 15, 2022
It’s a shame handwriting is no longer emphasized in school. I received a beautifully handwritten note from my aunt which was my motivation for seeking out this book. It’s very meditative to practice and feels opposite of today’s technology driven communications.
On a modern note every day a package for unit J is left on our doorstep. We are unit F but the writing is in cursive. I even placed a label with a block letter F to no avail.
On a modern note every day a package for unit J is left on our doorstep. We are unit F but the writing is in cursive. I even placed a label with a block letter F to no avail.
Read
April 22, 2024This is a nice review for polishing up or improving on grade school script writing skills. It's not calligraphy, so don't get it if that's what you're looking for - it's meant to help improve everyday handwriting. Decently helpful in pursuing that goal. I do wish there were more practice pages, and in the history section it would have been nice to see examples of the various fonts that were mentioned.
July 20, 2020
Short, sweet and practical guide to handwriting.
Used for a monthly project to improve my cursive handwriting, and provided an excellent breakdown of the different components as well as exercises to do.
Could've used even more hands on tips, as I found myself unsure of the direction and order of the individual strokes of certain letters.
Used for a monthly project to improve my cursive handwriting, and provided an excellent breakdown of the different components as well as exercises to do.
Could've used even more hands on tips, as I found myself unsure of the direction and order of the individual strokes of certain letters.
June 22, 2021
The last thing I need another penmanship/calligraphy book, but I couldn't resist this one. It has great instruction on handwriting, flourishing, and includes a Roman and a few printed faces.
As I was buying the book, the young woman at the register told me she never learned to write cursive. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn.
As I was buying the book, the young woman at the register told me she never learned to write cursive. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn.
September 29, 2025
Expressing your personality through handwriting can be a beautiful creation
This book is a great reference to use when wanting to improve your handwriting. The first step to creating a personal touch reflecting your existence is to craft something beautiful with your own hand. This book will help you get there.
This book is a great reference to use when wanting to improve your handwriting. The first step to creating a personal touch reflecting your existence is to craft something beautiful with your own hand. This book will help you get there.
February 20, 2020
Fantastic book. I spent 30 minutes each morning reading this book and doing its exercises. As making any other art, handwriting is an uplifting experience and makes your day. The book is full of wonderful quotes full of wisdom. Highly recommended.
April 4, 2020
Loved this book. The artists style and instruction are beautiful, but not intimidating to the beginner. Loved all the exemplars in various styles. Highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to improve their penmanship and get started in creative lettering.
May 20, 2021
Good, but I'd prefer it in print.
August 27, 2021
Thinking this book would be a kind of meditation. Lots of space to practice writing in the book. Very pretty.
October 24, 2021
It doesn't actually teach you anything and only reinforces any bad habits you might have.
December 28, 2021
Great exercises. And I should know, my hands are my money makers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
March 9, 2024I read the history and fun facts and skimmed the rest. It is 90% practical notes and practice pages.
June 29, 2024
Very interesting tome about the lost art of cursive writing
November 20, 2024
It's more of a workbook for practice on improving penmanship. It offers advice, tips, history, and fun facts. It's worth a look for inspiration.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews