A wonderfully written history of the written word, using vignettes throughout (rather than a strict narrative) to chart the changing fashions and progress of writing. The author can at times seem a bit too wordy, using a vocabulary probably too expansive to relay proper meaning to the general reader (although, what should one expect in a history of the act of writing itself?). Overall, though, the author's narrative is effectively woven throughout each of the chapters, using the common thread of "palimpsest" to make the necessary connections.

Highly recommended to those interested in the history of communication, writing, English language, or the effects of technological advancement on society. ( )

The development recorded language, this book explores the history of the alphabet, and words from the earliest discovered, from the mythology of Thoth up to present day computer coding. Fairly interesting, I read this book in conjunction with A is For Ox, and have to admit to skipping over the pages dedicated to Chinese written words, of which there seemed to be a fair amount. I was pleased to discover about boustrophedon scripts, something I think I might try myself. ( )

What to say about [b: Palimpsest|3973532|Palimpsest|Catherynne M. Valente|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320532857s/3973532.jpg|4019291]?

I was deeply interested in this book when I saw it was on order at the local library. A book on the history of writing? That sounds grand. I thought it would be along the lines of an actual.... history of writing. Something that delved into why our minds are organized the way they are, and why they express themselves so well through writing. Maybe a bit on how Socrates, Jesus, and so many other ancient peoples distrusted the practice outright. Maybe something on the various myths of how writing came to be, why some cultures still have yet to develop it... you know - a history of writing. Instead, I got [b: Palimpsest|3973532|Palimpsest|Catherynne M. Valente|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320532857s/3973532.jpg|4019291]. Yes, it covers the above topics lightly - very lightly, in fact - but now I've come away from it knowing a decent amount about hanzi and less about Chinese writing systems than how very wrong and direspectful the Victorian view of Chinese writing systems was.

Don't me wrong. [a: Matthew Battles|62917|Matthew Battles|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1392223609p2/62917.jpg] has a lovely, poetic style of writing. My trouble is that such a style is better suited to fiction than it is to a historical study. His writing is a labyrinth of ideas and connections, spinning together like a spider's web in a way that is beautiful to behold... but utterly maddening when you're looking for a particularly linear and informative study of language. So, yes,while I did learn some things from this it wasn't quite what I wanted to learn nor in the way I had wanted to learn it.

I didn't hate this book, but I did ultimately want to be reading something other than what I ended up reading. Others may have better luck with it than myself in the end. Still, it was overall a rather interesting subject. I'd like to read other books focused upon it sometime. ( )

This... is not a history of the written word. It's a set of miscellaneous musings on writing and on scattered moments in the history of writing, more poetic than informative and more dreamily philosophical than coherent or substantial. Which, I have to say, is really not my kind of thing. There were moments, especially early on, when one of the author's sentences would strike me as prettily insightful, and times, mostly in later chapters, when I did learn something interesting about the history of printing that I didn't know. But despite that, I mostly found it kind of frustrating, overall, and ended up more or less forcing myself to finish it.

Rating: I'm calling this 2.5/5, but it's one of those books that's really hard to rate, because I am sure there are readers out there for whom this book will be perfect. It's just that I'm decidedly not one of them. ( )