Silvia Ferrara

Interesting topic by an obviously knowledgeable author (and what seems to be a very talented translator). But the title is misleading as it's more of a conversational rumination on un-decoded scripts than a history of the world or a discourse on "the greatest invention" (which even the author claims isn't writing). I would, as others have also stated, have preferred a more linear discussion of writing, and more details about how unknown scripts have been, and are, decoded. I still enjoyed the book, and read the whole thing, so I guess I would recommend it with some reservations. It's one of those books that you won't know if you like until you've tried reading it.… (meer)

Mixed feelings: covers fascinating material — the inventions of written languages and how scholars are able to decode some of them and why they have not been able to decode others. The author has wonderful credentials and I trust that she’s an expert on these topics.

But I didn’t really care for the flowery, poetic, conversational style used for such complex material. The author said in a postscript that she did this deliberately (the conversational aspect anyway) but it left some of the technical aspects not as well defined as I would have liked, and the structure was kind of meandering. Probably exactly some people’s cup of tea but for this subject matter I would have preferred something a bit more straightforward.

The book was written in Italian and translated but I don’t think my quibbles are based on the translation.… (meer)

I gave up on this about a quarter of the way in. Ferrara seems to like writing flowery prose more than actually conveying any information. What information is conveyed comes in unconnected hints and nibbles, with lots of "we'll get back to this" or "I'll talk about this in more detail later." I found it impossible to follow any kind of argument or narrative - it felt like a bunch of interesting facts that were trying to lead somewhere but were never connected. I'm sure that if I stuck with the book longer, they might have come together, but I didn't have the patience.… (meer)