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Very Short Introductions #208
Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction
Writing is the defining marker of civilization, without which there could be no records, no history, no books, no accumulation of knowledge. But when did this essential part of our lives begin? Why do we all write differently and how did writing evolve into what we use today? All of these questions are answered in this Very Short Introduction. Andrew Robinson tells the fascinating story of the history of writing, shedding light on its development and examining the enormous variety of writing and scripts we use today. Starting with the origins of writing five thousand years ago, with cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, Robinson explains how these early forms developed into hundreds of scripts, including the Roman alphabet and Chinese characters. He reveals how the modern writing symbols and abbreviations we take for granted today--including airport signage and text messaging--resemble ancient ones much more closely than we might think. The book also includes a chronology of events
from 3300 BC to AD 2000, a list of titles for further reading, and an index.
About the Series : Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.
from 3300 BC to AD 2000, a list of titles for further reading, and an index.
About the Series : Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.
157 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
29 people are currently reading
617 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Robinson
461 books75 followers(William) Andrew Coulthard Robinson is a British author and former newspaper editor.
Andrew Robinson was educated at the Dragon School, Eton College where he was a King's Scholar, University College, Oxford where he read Chemistry and finally the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He is the son of Neville Robinson, an Oxford physicist.
Robinson first visited India in 1975 and has been a devotee of the country's culture ever since, in particular the Bengali poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore and the Bengali film director Satyajit Ray. He has authored many books and articles. Until 2006, he was the Literary Editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement<?em>. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge.
He is based in London and is now a full-time writer.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
Andrew Robinson was educated at the Dragon School, Eton College where he was a King's Scholar, University College, Oxford where he read Chemistry and finally the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He is the son of Neville Robinson, an Oxford physicist.
Robinson first visited India in 1975 and has been a devotee of the country's culture ever since, in particular the Bengali poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore and the Bengali film director Satyajit Ray. He has authored many books and articles. Until 2006, he was the Literary Editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement<?em>. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge.
He is based in London and is now a full-time writer.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 28, 2022
This was one of the best ‘Very Short Introductions’ I've read so far: concise and yet encompassing almost all of the subject matter. Robinson provides a set of terminological instruments with which the various forms of writing can be analyzed and therefore better understood. It seems logical, but he makes it clear that language and writing must be distinguished, although they are obviously very closely linked. It is important to note that almost every writing system originated from a spoken language, and therefore always contains some form of phonetic component. This leads to curious observations, such as this that the Japanese language is fundamentally different from the Chinese, but that the Japanese did adopt the Chinese characters to write down their language, with the addition of some limited phonetic symbols. Robinson even supplies a few reading keys on a limited number of pages to be able to read, for example, cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing. Well done.
October 9, 2018
This straigthforward and succint overview on writing satisfied my longstanding curiosities and unanswered questions on the subject. The book guides us through fascinating and intriguing issues, like the decipherment of ancient scripts and the Chinese and Japanese logo-syllabic scripts. Knowing about writing is perhaps the best way to gain access to the understanding of the greatest human civilizations and their rich history. And this introductory book gets the job done.
March 12, 2017
This simple book changes my perspective about accountancy, for sure. Accountant was for some reasons responsible to the advancement of writing systems. Many earliest records were about taxes!
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October 22, 2024Very interesting. See my general review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
April 26, 2022
I'd give this a 3.5 but partial stars aren't an option here.
I used this as the primary text for one of the courses I'm teaching on the history of writing systems. It was pretty good. I was more excited about it before reading it than I was by the end. However, it is easy to criticize and it is difficult to create. It is a good introduction for students (or really anyone) who is coming into writing systems without a background in linguistics. One student who is a Pacific Islander pointed out that the author describes Easter Island script as "less important" and was bothered by that. She made a great point, and it would be a good idea for the wording to be more inclusive there.
Some of the chapters are great and stronger than others. Other chapters, like the last one ("Writing goes electronic") end up having content that does not match the title of the chapter very much. I was expecting more discussion of electronic writing (netspeak, emoticons, emojis, etc.), but it did not discuss any of that. Overall, I enjoyed and appreciated this little volume. If I teach this course again, I would skip chapters 5 and 9 from the book and replace those with selected articles.
It is a very short introduction, so it need not be comprehensive. However, I would prefer a volume that had a little more diversity (e.g. briefly discuss more writing systems of Asia other than Chinese and Japanese in that chapter—e.g. abugidas, Mongolian scripts, etc.— and a chapter on the Pacific Islands). Teaching at a university with a high student population from the Pacific Islands is making me aware of how many textbooks do not even acknowledge the existence of Pacific Island history and cultures, or if they do mention them, do so only briefly. Baybayin is another script that could have been mentioned, but that's okay.
Furthermore, there were a couple of claims in the book that were not accurate with regard to the field of linguistics. While it was a decent book, it did not seem that he had a background in linguistics. However, I do not know for sure as I was unable to find what disciplines his degrees were in (only the universities are mentioned).
I used this as the primary text for one of the courses I'm teaching on the history of writing systems. It was pretty good. I was more excited about it before reading it than I was by the end. However, it is easy to criticize and it is difficult to create. It is a good introduction for students (or really anyone) who is coming into writing systems without a background in linguistics. One student who is a Pacific Islander pointed out that the author describes Easter Island script as "less important" and was bothered by that. She made a great point, and it would be a good idea for the wording to be more inclusive there.
Some of the chapters are great and stronger than others. Other chapters, like the last one ("Writing goes electronic") end up having content that does not match the title of the chapter very much. I was expecting more discussion of electronic writing (netspeak, emoticons, emojis, etc.), but it did not discuss any of that. Overall, I enjoyed and appreciated this little volume. If I teach this course again, I would skip chapters 5 and 9 from the book and replace those with selected articles.
It is a very short introduction, so it need not be comprehensive. However, I would prefer a volume that had a little more diversity (e.g. briefly discuss more writing systems of Asia other than Chinese and Japanese in that chapter—e.g. abugidas, Mongolian scripts, etc.— and a chapter on the Pacific Islands). Teaching at a university with a high student population from the Pacific Islands is making me aware of how many textbooks do not even acknowledge the existence of Pacific Island history and cultures, or if they do mention them, do so only briefly. Baybayin is another script that could have been mentioned, but that's okay.
Furthermore, there were a couple of claims in the book that were not accurate with regard to the field of linguistics. While it was a decent book, it did not seem that he had a background in linguistics. However, I do not know for sure as I was unable to find what disciplines his degrees were in (only the universities are mentioned).
September 15, 2017
Excellent introduction to the history of writing and scripture, although it gets quite technical on occasion. Overall, a fine and concise read that makes you realise how relatively young and uncomplicated the modern alphabet is (for example, cuneiform developed over a couple of millennia, and at one point I really got bewildered by its history), and learn about the wildly different approaches to writing (kana/kanji in Japan, hanzi in China, ...), characters (logograms v syllabic v alphabet) and ways of recording information
January 10, 2020
I really enjoyed reading this short book. It provides a very clear and concise overview of the most important ancient scripts and how they relate to modern ones.
October 6, 2021
The title of this book is true to its content: it is indeed a very short introduction into the origins and development of writing and writing systems. It is for the layperson, who knows nothing about the topic, yet wants a short overview of the subject and the main ideas related to it. The book does a good job in that. It’s easy to read and indeed very short, plus also provide further reading for each chapter. Thus, it can help someone with no idea start to explore these topics.
However, the book has its deficiencies.
The structure of the book could be improved, e.g we have separate chapters on the writing systems in general and on alphabets and Chinese and Japanese writing separately, but not on other writing systems. This selection is not explained. Beside, many of the useful information are scattered through the text and/or are in the “wrong chapter”.
The selection of material and the proportion of different topics is questionable. We do not get substantial information on many (minor) writing systems, nor on the scripts developed in the Middle Ages and after, yet we have elaborate expansion on the workings of Greek, Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Japanese scripts, which are way too technical. I would have preferred an even more concise summary, without any technical details (other than a few illustrative examples), but more on what we don’t know and where there is scholarly disagreement or if the book was limited to the ancient writing systems/origin of the major writing systems. I constantly had the feeling that the author likes to expand on topics with more information and research (which is natural), yet forgetting the survival bias that we have (ie that we shouldn’t make generalizations because we lost much more evidence than we have now and research is active in many topics). Although the author occasionally emphasize that our information is limited and research is ongoing, he fails to emphasize that many of the theories presented are just that - educated guesses which have not (or cannot) be checked against sufficient data. Especially in the last chapter, I would have preferred an overview on the state of research, rather than questionable statements and examples.
Overall, the book is a good material for someone with limited knowledge and interest in the history of our writing systems. For others, more substantial works are needed.
However, the book has its deficiencies.
The structure of the book could be improved, e.g we have separate chapters on the writing systems in general and on alphabets and Chinese and Japanese writing separately, but not on other writing systems. This selection is not explained. Beside, many of the useful information are scattered through the text and/or are in the “wrong chapter”.
The selection of material and the proportion of different topics is questionable. We do not get substantial information on many (minor) writing systems, nor on the scripts developed in the Middle Ages and after, yet we have elaborate expansion on the workings of Greek, Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Japanese scripts, which are way too technical. I would have preferred an even more concise summary, without any technical details (other than a few illustrative examples), but more on what we don’t know and where there is scholarly disagreement or if the book was limited to the ancient writing systems/origin of the major writing systems. I constantly had the feeling that the author likes to expand on topics with more information and research (which is natural), yet forgetting the survival bias that we have (ie that we shouldn’t make generalizations because we lost much more evidence than we have now and research is active in many topics). Although the author occasionally emphasize that our information is limited and research is ongoing, he fails to emphasize that many of the theories presented are just that - educated guesses which have not (or cannot) be checked against sufficient data. Especially in the last chapter, I would have preferred an overview on the state of research, rather than questionable statements and examples.
Overall, the book is a good material for someone with limited knowledge and interest in the history of our writing systems. For others, more substantial works are needed.
November 17, 2023
Writing and Script is readable, credible, and comprehensive. Breadth and brevity. Robinson covers the origins of writing, the distinction between proto-writing systems and full writing systems, several ancient and modern systems, their evolution and links, and their place on a theoretical scale that runs from mostly phonetic (Spanish and English) to mostly logographic (Chinese and Japanese). According to Robinson, all full writing systems (even Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Chinese Characters) use both. That is his central point. The phonetic-to-logographic scale provides a theoretical frame to explain how all written languages operate. I appreciate Robinson's intellectual honesty. He did not try to nail down facts that are presently unknowable. Where there is uncertainty or controversy, he acknowledges it. He mentions different views, summarizes current evidence, and often concludes that more data is needed.
August 27, 2023
Conhecer os mistérios da escrita e desmontar uns mitos e ideias feitas é o resultado da leitura muito proveitosa deste livro, claro, directo e com algum sentido de humor. A escrita é uma extraordinária invenção humana, democrática e universal, mesmo que alguns tenham pesado (e ainda pensem) que alguns não poderão aprendê-la e que há algumas melhores que outras.
«The reason why scripts flourish or vanish has more to do with political and cultural considerations than purely linguistic ones. Literacy concerns far more than merely learning how to read and write». P.142
«The reason why scripts flourish or vanish has more to do with political and cultural considerations than purely linguistic ones. Literacy concerns far more than merely learning how to read and write». P.142
February 17, 2020
"Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction" is just too short. Needs a lot more information regarding the different types of scripts and doesn't even cover fascinating and vital aspects of writing such as the modern development of scripts for previously unwritten languages, the bewildering array of East African scripts, the way spelling and pronunciation diverge for example in English etc.
December 12, 2019
Infelizmente o livro foca apenas nas obras anglófonas, em especial na literatura britânica e americana. De resto, cumpre o que promete.
August 26, 2025
Eski yazıları çözmenin pratiklerinin AI'nin mekanizmalarına bu kadar benziyor olusu ilginc.
Turkiye'deki harf devrimine de yer vermis yazar. :)
Turkiye'deki harf devrimine de yer vermis yazar. :)
May 11, 2014
The book I read to research this post was Writing and Script A Very Short Introduction by Andrew Robinson which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. This is part of a series of around 300 books which are generally around 150 pages and are an introduction to a subject written by various experts in their fields. They are pretty good books and I have reviewed lots of them. This book was going to be about writing and writing something like a screenplay or book but actually it is a history of the different forms. Many cultures handed down by memorizing lengthy passages much information from one generation to the next. Initially this happened with the sacred text The Vedas a kind of Hindu bible. The earliest form of writing we find in Mesopotamia in around 3,000 BC and many ancient cultures developed their own forms like in the Americas this happened in around 900 BC. There was in places what we might call a proto-writing which was a very simple form of writing prior to this. An example is the cave man drawings where it is sometimes thought they might use a symbol for something like ownership of 10 cattle but we can't be sure. There have also been geometric objects discovered which are thought also to represent ownership of something like 10 cattle and it appears to have been part of a very early form of accounting. These were objects made out of clay and might be shaped like a cone to mean one thing or a cube to mean something else but even with this we can't be sure of the exact meaning. Many languages share the same alphabets, an example being the many South East Asian languages that share the kanji alphabet. In China most people learn Mandarin so they can understand and communicate in a uniform way although most of their native languages use this alphabet writing. Kanji started out as a sort of picture writing and became more abstract as time went on and there are thousands of symbols but there are rules about how a character is constructed and once you understand these it simplifies it. Of course in Europe we tend to have the Roman & Cyrillic alphabets although often these languages have used obscure alphabets that have been dropped in the passage of time. I did really enjoy this book which is very interesting as you can see and it's an interesting angle on history. In more recent times there has been a very popular thing called texting on computers and mobile phones in particular and this with its simplicity shares a lot in common with ancient languages which often the same kind of written rules in their writing.
May 14, 2016
I've always been attracted to the "Very Short Introduction" series because I love the idea of packing a complex subject into a slim, unintimidating, travel-sized book. As my first VSI book I chose Robinson's Writing and Script. One of my Walter Mitty dreams is to decipher Linear A, so I thought this book would be a good start to my new career.
After reading Robinson's book I have a solid, basic understanding of writing, but unfortunately I also have enough understanding to convince me that I won't be deciphering Linear A anytime soon. I came away with a new curiosity of how writing develops and I am awe struck by those who can decipher ancient scripts because the process is much more complicated than I imagined. As the book progressed to its concluding chapter (Writing goes electronic) it became more and more evident that writing is a tool that is constantly evolving to best serve those using it. I was left wondering how current writing would change with the introduction of new ways to communicate. Already pictograms are making a huge resurgence in everyday correspondences.
Robinson writes in a clear, understandable manner and includes loads of illustrations to help explain the material tackled, though I do think the book would have benefited from the inclusion of a glossary of some of the frequently used terms. I will admit that there were a few topics that I had difficulty grasping because they were simply too complex for the format, but Robinson piqued my interest enough that I am now eager to consult the "Further Reading" section for books that can take me deeper into the subject.
After reading Robinson's book I have a solid, basic understanding of writing, but unfortunately I also have enough understanding to convince me that I won't be deciphering Linear A anytime soon. I came away with a new curiosity of how writing develops and I am awe struck by those who can decipher ancient scripts because the process is much more complicated than I imagined. As the book progressed to its concluding chapter (Writing goes electronic) it became more and more evident that writing is a tool that is constantly evolving to best serve those using it. I was left wondering how current writing would change with the introduction of new ways to communicate. Already pictograms are making a huge resurgence in everyday correspondences.
Robinson writes in a clear, understandable manner and includes loads of illustrations to help explain the material tackled, though I do think the book would have benefited from the inclusion of a glossary of some of the frequently used terms. I will admit that there were a few topics that I had difficulty grasping because they were simply too complex for the format, but Robinson piqued my interest enough that I am now eager to consult the "Further Reading" section for books that can take me deeper into the subject.
August 29, 2023
Summary: Perfect answer to many questions I had
In recent reading of ancient history, I realized I didn't really understand the difference between an alphabet and other writing systems as well as I thought. This book answered that question and others about how writing works. Specifically, alphabets are not as different from pictographic and syllabic forms as I was taught: rather than revolutions, they are largely evolutions, allowing a script to have fewer symbols. But in practice, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters can be used in ways approaching an alphabet or syllabary, and languages like English that claim to be alphabet based have other symbols and notations that indicate ideas or pronunciation outside of the 26 characters (for example, road signs, smileys (even before computers), and italics). I found some insight into language every few pages that made me go "aha!" or surprised me. I especially enjoyed the section on Japanese with its three different written forms, a useful analogy for thinking about ancient Egyptian. It's a great, quick, enjoyable read with a lot of information for its size.
In recent reading of ancient history, I realized I didn't really understand the difference between an alphabet and other writing systems as well as I thought. This book answered that question and others about how writing works. Specifically, alphabets are not as different from pictographic and syllabic forms as I was taught: rather than revolutions, they are largely evolutions, allowing a script to have fewer symbols. But in practice, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters can be used in ways approaching an alphabet or syllabary, and languages like English that claim to be alphabet based have other symbols and notations that indicate ideas or pronunciation outside of the 26 characters (for example, road signs, smileys (even before computers), and italics). I found some insight into language every few pages that made me go "aha!" or surprised me. I especially enjoyed the section on Japanese with its three different written forms, a useful analogy for thinking about ancient Egyptian. It's a great, quick, enjoyable read with a lot of information for its size.
June 11, 2015
The content of this book is not presented - as far as I can tell - in any way that should make it more interesting or enticing than any other subject content, but nevertheless I can't help but find it unspeakably intriguing. Perhaps it simply indicates that under this apparently honest software-developing, fantasy-reading, maths-loving exterior, I am in fact a geek.
Um, yeah. So I am in fact a geek.
In particular, I am in fact a language geek. The (to other people) tedious idea of cataloging and analysing the history of letters, alphabets and other forms of writing is to me deeply absorbing. Moreover, I can tell that the author is with me on this, to judge by his CV. Not an academic (unusual for the writer of a VSI), he is instead written a whole ream of books on exactly this topic.
I feel I should review the book properly at this point, but I think anyone reading this should probably have a good idea of what it's like by now anyway, right? IT'S FREAKIN' AWESOME!
Um, yeah. So I am in fact a geek.
In particular, I am in fact a language geek. The (to other people) tedious idea of cataloging and analysing the history of letters, alphabets and other forms of writing is to me deeply absorbing. Moreover, I can tell that the author is with me on this, to judge by his CV. Not an academic (unusual for the writer of a VSI), he is instead written a whole ream of books on exactly this topic.
I feel I should review the book properly at this point, but I think anyone reading this should probably have a good idea of what it's like by now anyway, right? IT'S FREAKIN' AWESOME!
April 20, 2014
Haven't read a lot of books in the series, but I hope the others are a little better. I kept asking myself as I read, 'does this belong in a very short introduction? Shouldn't the author be talking about that instead?' These books may end up being better for readers who know nothing about a subject than those who know a little and are looking for advice how to structure their understanding from an authoritative overview...
July 13, 2014
Does what it says on the tin, really: a very short introduction to writing and script. It was very satisfying, especially for its brevity, but due to the limitations of the format some of the topics I would have found most interesting (such as the relationship between writing and society) are barely touched on, and there are areas of the world that were hardly mentioned or not explored at all.
October 5, 2016
A brief and readable overview - like most VSI books. Personally I was hoping for more on the cultural significance and process / materials of writing historically, which was only mentioned in the last 2 chapters. The majority of the book is instead describing what we know about the development of ancient writing in different societies. Nonetheless enjoyable.
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July 16, 2015302.2244 R6582 2009
August 25, 2015
Short, so skimmed through covers symbols, letters, codes, etc from around the world.
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January 25, 2016Writing is not as fundemental as I thought. It is skill many times forgotten in human history. Luckely scientist make use of proto-writing (formulas), which is lasts a bit longer.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews