Great history of writing, printing, and other forms of mass communication from thousands of years ago until now. Extensively researched and well written. I liked another book of his ("A Splendid Exchange") very much also. ( )

This is more of a survey than an exhaustive history of the print and media. Alphabets, scrolls, Gutenberg, telegraph keep the book rolling until of course a final chapter which explores the advent of the Internet. I found the chapter on the use of copiers in the downfall of the Soviet Union to be especially interesting as that was new to me. This book was published in 2013--so in some ways feels like ancient history. ( )

I wouldn't presume to "review" this or any other book. Instead, I read with pen in hand and underline passages I want to remember. Margin notes as well. These notes get posted to my blog with tags for future reference. For this book...
https://www.smays.com/2019/02/masters-of-the-word/

If this "review" is inappropriate, I hope someone will let me know and I'll delete it. ( )

Some nice summary of history, but unfortuantely inaccurate in the parts I already know well (e.g. history of blogging) so makes me suspect it's wrong elsewhere too. ( )

A fascinating read! Bernstein provides a vast amount of information on communication starting with the first forms of writing and advancing to the modern day while showing the social and political impacts. The content is delivered in an easy to understand style which even non-academics can appreciate. I will be checking out more of Bernstein's work. ( )