A Study of Writing

by Ignace J. Gelb

A SYSTEMATIC HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF WRITING,; HE DESCRIBES AND COMPARES VARIOUS TYPES OF WRITING.

Genres: History, Language, Nonfiction, Linguistics, Reference

319 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Ignace Jay Gelb (1907-1985) was a Polish-American ancient historian and Assyriologist who pioneered the scientific study of writing systems.

Reviews

[Pilar]

Interesante como libro de consulta de los principales tipos de escritura conocidos. El autor, frente a los prejuicios tradicionalistas, considera cuál podría y debería ser el futuro de la escritura como un mejor sistema de intercomunicación humana. Al final, se añade un útil glosario de la terminología utilizada y una amplia bibliografía.

[John Culpepper]

A good review of the history and evolution of writing. A bit tedious in parts due to the nature of the study, but overall very interesting and educational.

[✎ madalaine]

Info a bit outdated, I despise how the author refers to African languages as “African [n word] languages”. Kinda good info but ultimately of its time and undeniably racially biased :-/

[Quetzal]

a bit outdated but still a must