The Story of Writing

by Carol Donoughue

The fascinating story of the written word -- from how it all began to the age of the Internet. The Story of Writing is the compelling story of how writing was invented, how it developed over the centuries, how it has changed people's lives overtime -- and what it means to us now. The book features sections Valuable sidebars -- "Find Out More" and "You Are There" -- encourage the reader to explore new topics and engage the imagination with real-life descriptions of people and how they wrote. With more than 100 photographs of artifacts and documents from the collection of the British Museum, The Story of Writing is a fascinating history and a remarkable reference.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Picture Books, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published August 13, 2007

Reviews

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a kid who was fascinated as soon as I learned about Egyptian hieroglyphics and the minor differences in the Spanish from the English alphabet. I would have loved this book when I was young, and I found it of interest now.

I think it’s written in a very accessible way. I appreciated everything from the table of contents at the beginning to the map and glossary at the end. This basically is an account of the history of writing, that comes all the way into the present time, the various types and who practiced it at different places and times throughout history. Included are photos, drawings, replicas of documents, and all enhance the narrative.

The Contents:

Why Writing?
1 The Sumerians and cuneiform
2 The Egyptians and hieroglyphs
3 The first alphabet
4 The Romans and writing
5 Monks and manuscripts
6 The invention of printing
7 Beautiful writing
8 Chinese characters
9 What next?
10 A world of writing
Glossary
Map
Index
Further reading

Each section covers a lot of material, including a part that invites the reader to imagine that they are the writer in that time and place, which is a nice touch. Those parts are called “You are…” and then there are “Find out more” in each section too.

Okay, I love this stuff. But, a caveat: I’m not sure readers will enjoy this book unless the subject matter is already of particular interest. Honestly, reading it cover to cover in one sitting at times I found it somewhat dry, not boring exactly, but it really helped to already be interested. It has a textbook quality to it. Also, at times the process of writing is depicted as grim and arduous, which is accurate, and might inspire the curiosity of some but might lose the interest of others.

But, I do think this is an excellent book about the subject and I think that interested readers of this book will be encouraged to study the covered subjects in more depth.

And, I know very little about my family history, and most of what I know doesn’t impress me, but I was thrilled when, as an adult, I learned that an ancestor on my mother’s father’s side could be traced to working with Gutenberg and that printing press, so it was especially fun for me when I got to that part of the book.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This history of writing not only provides information but, for each type of writing discussed, asks the reader to imagine him/herself as a scribe or a student scribe trying to learn it. It begins with pictograms, and ends with computers and typing on keyboards. I was particularly interested in the two types of handwriting taught in the 19th century--"the Italian hand" for girls, and ? for boys (don't have the book in front of me and can't remember the name!). I must investigate the history of penmanship now. Very interesting!

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, simple, but informative book about the history of writing and different writing systems used around the world.

[Kms · Rating 3 out of 5]

从苏美尔人的楔形文字、古埃及的象形文字、腓尼基人的字母、希腊文、拉丁文的发展一直到印刷术、打字机、到当今计算机的使用，信息量很大，书末附录词汇表和地图都很有用，算是本不错的参考书。

可惜该书虎头蛇尾，因此只能给出三星。前五章除了线性文字内容过于粗略外，其他几种古文字的介绍都比较清晰到位，还有相应的破译经历，可见作者下了功夫；越往后越有拼凑嫌疑，中国文字没有安排在古文字部分，而是放在书法之后，有些奇怪，但内容尚可，最后两章就绝对是凑数了，不如删去。

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear and informative non fiction book for older children about writing - where it came from, how it developed over time, and where it is going. A really good read, with great photos and illustrations.