Palimpsest A History of the Written Word [Paperback]

This fascinating exploration of the evolution of writing shows how, despite radical technological changes, the practice maintains its atavistic mystery&. And the history of the written word, as this book makes clear, reveals the evolution of the human mind.[L]yrical&. [C]onsistently evocative&. In today's memoir-mad, self-published climate&typing has taken the place of writing. Battless work runs counter to this cultural moment, participating in and expanding the art thats the focus of his history.[E]xhilarating&. Battles is a gifted stylist, and his history of writing is both a paean to the powers of language and an extended demonstration of his own prowess. Nearly every page features an example of beautiful writing about writing.An illuminating look at the origins and impact of writing . . . richly detailed. . . . Battles deftly excavates layers of human history from a wide range of sources. . . . A fascinating exploration stylishly and gracefully told.Incredibly ambitious . . . intriguing . . . thoroughly researched and thought provoking.Dazzling.Anyone who can write a history of writing in fewer than 200 pages is either foolish or brilliant. Matthew Battles is brilliant. This is not an encyclopedic chronology but an extended essay that skips gracefully across the centuries, stopping wherever the most interesting stories lie.From traces in clay to photon traces on the screens that surround us today, seeing roots and bones in the shapes of letters, Matthew Battles explores the deep origins and hidden structures of our written world. Scholarly and poetic,To call this book a profound meditation on what it means to be human would be to tell the truth but leave out all the fun. At once elegant and mischievous,Traveling through centuries and across continents, Battles finds unexpected connections and echoes that resonate with our own day. Surely this is what life in Borgess endless library must be.The written word changed literally everything,ló(