e-branch
Login
My List - 0
Help
Home
My Account/Renew Loans
Community Info
KidSearch
New Catalogue!
Search
Advanced
By Format
By Number
My Searches
Can't Find it?
Find Magazine Articles & more
Problems?
Search:
Title Starts with...
Title Keyword(s)
Author/Performer/Name (Last,First)
Author/Performer/Name Keyword(s)
Subject Starts with...
Subject Keyword(s)
Series Starts with...
Series Keyword(s)
Anyword/Anywhere
List Name Keyword(s)
Refine Search
> You're searching:
Halifax Public Libraries
Item Information
Copy / Holding Information
Booklist Review
Choice Review
Library Journal Review
Publisher Weekly Review
Table of Contents
More Content
More by this author
Ferrara, Silvia.
Subjects
Writing -- Origin.
Insciptions, Ancient.
Civilization, Aegean.
Anthropological linguistics.
Browse Catalog
by author:
Ferrara, Silvia.
by title:
The greatest inventi...
Grande invenzione. E...
by call number:
306.4402 F374g
Search the Web
Ferrara, Silvia.
Writing -- Origin.
Insciptions, Ancient.
Civilization, Aegean.
Anthropological linguistics.
MARC Display
The greatest invention : a history of the world in nine mysterious scripts / Silvia Ferrara ; translated from the Italian by Todd Portnowitz.
by
Ferrara, Silvia.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022.
Call #:
306.4402 F374g
Subjects
Writing -- Origin.
Insciptions
,
Ancient
.
Civilization, Aegean.
Anthropological linguistics.
ISBN:
9780374601621 (hc.)
Uniform title:
Grande invenzione. English.
Alternate title:
History of the world in nine mysterious scripts
Edition:
1st American ed.
Description:
viii, 289 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Notes:
"Originally published in Italian in 2019 ... as La grande invenzione ... English translation published in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux First American edition 2022" -- verso.
Bibliography:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-289).
Summary:
"Silvia Ferrara's 'The Greatest Invention' is a code-cracking tour around the globe, sifting through our cultural and social behavior in search of the origins of our greatest invention -- writing. The L where a tabletop meets the legs, the T between double doors, the D of an armchair's oval backrest -- all around us is an alphabet in things. But how did these shapes make it onto the page, never mind form such complex structures as this sentence? In 'The Greatest Invention,' Silvia Ferrara takes a profound look at how, and how many times, human beings have managed to produce the miracle of written language, taking us back in time to Mesopotamia, Crete, China, Egypt, Central America, Easter Island, and beyond. With Ferrara as our guide, we examine the enigmas of undeciphered scripts, including famous cases like the Phaistos disk and the Voynich Manuscript; we touch the knotted, colored strings of the Incan khipu; we study the turtle shells and ox scapulae that bear the earliest Chinese inscriptions; we watch in awe as Sequoyah invents a script all on his own; and we venture to the cutting edge of decipherment, where high-powered laser scanners bring tears to an engineer's eye. As Ferrara demonstrates, in the shadows and swirls of these
ancient
inscriptions, not only are we able to decipher the stories these peoples sought to record, but we can also tease out the timeless truths of human nature, of our ceaseless drive to connect, create, and be remembered. An exhilarating celebration of human ingenuity and perseverance, 'The Greatest Invention' chronicles an uncharted journey, one filled with past flashes of brilliance, present-day scientific research, and the faint, fleeting echo of writing's future."--From publisher.
Holds:
0
Copy/Holding information
Location
Collection
Call No.
Item type
Status
Due Date
Central Library
Adult Nonfiction
306.44023 F374g
Adult books
Checked in
Add Copy to MyList
Home Delivery - HN
Adult Nonfiction
306.44023 F374g
Adult books
Checked out
Jul 12, 2024
Add Copy to MyList
Horizon Information Portal 3.24_8902M
© 2001-2013
SirsiDynix
All rights reserved.