Writing Revolution

In a world of rapid technological advancements, it can be easy to forget that writing is the original Information Technology, created to transcend the limitations of human memory and to defy time and space. The Writing Revolution picks apart the development of this communication tool to show how it has conquered the world.
Explores how writing has liberated the world, making possible everything from complex bureaucracy, literature, and science, to instruction manuals and love letters
Draws on an engaging range of examples, from the first cuneiform clay tablet, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Japanese syllabaries, to the printing press and the text messaging
Weaves together ideas from a number of fields, including history, cultural studies and archaeology, as well as linguistics and literature, to create an interdisciplinary volume
Traces the origins of each of the world's major written traditions, along with their applications, adaptations, and cultural influences

Amalia E. Gnanadesikan teaches writing at Holy Family University and has taught linguistics at West Chester and Rutgers universities. Her theoretical publications include works in phonology and language acquisition. Her column on language, "Postcards from Babel", appears in The Vocabula Review.

"This informative, yet accessible and entertaining, book will be of interest to readers with an interest in the history and evolution of world languages, as well as to students and instructors looking for a comprehensive and enjoyable overview of the subject.." (Language in Society, 14 December 2009)
“Gnanadesikan writes about language’s evolution into modernity with the rise of technology and the World Wide Web and how writing has made possible everything from complex bureaucracy to love letters.” (Princeton Alumni Weekly Online, February 2009)
Writing is the most consequential technology ever invented. In this important book Amalia Gnanadesikan combines a fascinating narrative of human ingenuity with an up-to-date analysis of the world’s most important writing systems.
–Florian Coulmas, author of The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems
Gnanadesikan has written an excellent book describing the structures of the important writing systems of the world. The author has a gift for bringing dusty old scribes to life, showing their relevance in the history of writing, one of the major achievements of human beings. The writing is exceptionally clear, making it quite accessible to those without a strong technical knowledge of linguistics.
–Henry Rogers, author of Writing Systems: A Linguistic Approach
This is a rare find: a work of impeccable scholarship that is also enormously witty and entertaining.
–John J. McCarthy, University of Massachusetts Amherst
After the invention of fire, writing has been humankind’s greatest discovery. Complete in its coverage, fascinating in detail, and eloquently presented, this is the best single survey of the subject in print.
–Michael Coe, author of Breaking the Maya Code

List of Illustrations.
Preface.
1 The First IT Revolution.
2 Cuneiform: Forgotten Legacy of a Forgotten People.
3 Egyptian Hieroglyphs and the Quest for Eternity.
4 Chinese: A Love of Paperwork.
5 Maya Glyphs: Calendars of Kings.
6 Linear B: The Clerks of Agamemnon.
7 Japanese: Three Scripts are Better than One.
8 Cherokee: Sequoyah Reverse-Engineers.
9 The Semitic Alphabet: Egypt to Manchuria in 3,400 Years.
10 The Empire of Sanskrit.
11 King Sejong’s One-Man Renaissance.
12 Greek Serendipity.
13 The Age of Latin.
14 The Alphabet Meets the Machine.
Appendix: Figures A.1–A.7.
Further Reading.
Index