{"product_id":"writing-isbn-9781405162562","title":"Writing","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWriting: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization\u003c\/i\u003e traces the origins of writing tied to speech from ancient Sumer through the Greek alphabet and beyond.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003eExamines the earliest evidence for writing in Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC, the origins of purely phonographic systems, and the mystery of alphabetic writing\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eIncludes discussions of Ancient Egyptian,Chinese, and Mayan writing\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eShows how the structures of writing served and do serve social needs and in turn create patterns of social behavior\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eClarifies the argument with many illustrations\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e  List of Illustrations ix  \u003cp\u003eMaps xiv\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePreface xv\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChronology xvii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIntroduction: A Difficult Topic, Little Studied, Poorly Understood 1\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1 What Is Writing? 11\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 Writing with Signs 19\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e3 Categories and Features of Writing 38\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4 Some General Issues in the Study of Writing 51\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e5 Protocuneiform and Counting Tokens 60\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6 Origin of Lexigraphic Writing in Mesopotamia 70\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e7 Plato's \u003ci\u003eIdeas\u003c\/i\u003e and Champollion’s Decipherment of the Egyptian Hieroglyphs 85\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e8 Egyptian Writing and Egyptian Speech 100\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e9 The Origin and Nature of Egyptian Writing 108\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e10 “The House of Life”: Scribes and Writing in Ancient Egypt 120\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e11 Syllabic Scripts of the Aegean 128\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e12 The West Semitic Revolution 148\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e13 What Kind of Writing Was West Semitic? 163\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e14 The Origins of West Semitic Writing 175\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e15 Chinese Logography 187\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e16 Lexigraphic Writing in Mesoamerica 206\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e17 The Greek Alphabet: A Writing That Changed the World 227\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e18 Summary and Conclusions 245\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGlossary 255\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBibliography 263\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndex 270\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"For anyone interested in language, writing, and their fascinating history across many cultures and centuries of development, this engagingly written, well-illustrated book will provide a very readable mine of information.\" (\u003ci\u003eCHOICE,\u003c\/i\u003e December 2009)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Powell's concentration on precise names for terms used in discourse clears up some of the confusion common to histories of work on ancient scripts.\" (\u003ci\u003eAbout.com\u003c\/i\u003e, May 2009)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"A feature … is the use of the ancient scripts in the text with numerous illustrations to familiarize the reader with the different writing systems. The result is a readable and enlightening study of a complex topic.\" (\u003ci\u003eBryn Mawr Classical Review,\u003c\/i\u003e April 2010)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Writing is stimulating and impressive.\" (\u003ci\u003eScience,\u003c\/i\u003e April 2009)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003eBarry B. Powell\u003c\/b\u003e is Halls-Bascom Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has written extensively on ancient Greek literature and the history of writing. His books include \u003ci\u003eHomer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet \u003c\/i\u003e(1991), \u003ci\u003eA New Companion to Homer\u003c\/i\u003e (editor, with Ian Morris) (1997), \u003ci\u003eWriting and the Origins of Greek Literature\u003c\/i\u003e (2001), and two editions of \u003ci\u003eHomer\u003c\/i\u003e (second edition, Blackwell, 2007).  \u003ci\u003eWriting:\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eTheory and History of the Technology of Civilization\u003c\/i\u003e offers a coherent system of terms and categories for the study of the complex phenomena in the world’s writing systems. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cp\u003eTracing the origins of writing tied to speech from ancient Sumer through the Greek alphabet and beyond, the book examines the earliest evidence for writing in Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC, the relations of these systems to Egyptian and Chinese writing, the origins of purely phonographic systems, and the mystery of alphabetic writing.\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWith examples from contemporary and historical writing systems, and many illustrations, \u003ci\u003eWriting\u003c\/i\u003e shows how the structures of writing served and do serve certain social needs and in turn create deep patterns of social behavior.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"This is an excellent, accessible introduction to writing's origins and development; Powell's jargon-free exposition clarifies many important issues in a way that specialist discussions have rarely achieved to date.\"\u003cbr\u003e–\u003cb\u003eJohn Bennet\u003c\/b\u003e, University of Sheffield\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wiley-Blackwell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47990510944485,"sku":"NP9781405162562","price":136.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781405162562.jpg?v=1761788120","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/writing-isbn-9781405162562","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}