My Library

LEADER 00000cam  2200457 i 4500 
001    on1371015214 
003    OCoLC 
005    20240314104510.0 
008    230304t20232023mduaf    b    001 0 eng d 
020    9781421446646|qhardcover 
020    1421446642|qhardcover 
035    (OCoLC)1371015214 
040    YDX|beng|erda|cYDX|dTOH|dJHE|dOCLCO|dMNN|dYDX|dMNN|dAUM
       |dNQM 
049    NQMA 
050  4 P211|b.S683 2023 
100 1  Stephens, Walter,|d1949-|eauthor. 
245 10 How writing made us human, 3000 BCE to now /|cWalter 
       Stephens. 
264  1 Baltimore :|bJohns Hopkins University Press,|c2023. 
264  4 |c©2023 
300    xix, 532 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates :
       |billustrations (some color) ;|c24 cm. 
336    text|btxt|2rdacontent 
337    unmediated|bn|2rdamedia 
338    volume|bnc|2rdacarrier 
490 1  Information cultures 
504    Includes bibliographical references and index. 
505 0  Preface: Homo scribens: Humanity and writing -- 
       Introduction: The mystique of writing -- Complement: 
       Writing as technology, from myth to history -- Part I: 
       Pagan antiquity -- An age of wonder and discovery, 2500-
       600 BCE -- An age of philosophy, 600 BCE-400 CE -- 
       Collections, histories, and forgeries, 300 BCE-400 CE -- 
       Part II: Holy writ -- Writing and scripture, 600 BCE-650 
       CE -- The Jewish scriptures -- The Christian scriptures --
       Cultural clashes and the defense of uniqueness -- Part III
       : Writing in the Middle Ages -- An age of paradoxical 
       optimism, 650-1350 -- Pessimism in the age of rediscovery,
       1350-1500 -- Part IV: Toward modernity -- Alternating 
       currents, 1450-1550 -- A second age of scripture, 1500-
       1600 -- The age of grand collections, 1600-1800 -- 
       Skepticism and imagination, 1600-1800 -- The age of 
       decipherment, 1800-1950 -- The age of media, 1950-2020. 
520    "In How Writing Made Us Human, 3000 BCE to Now, Walter 
       Stephens condenses the massive history of the written word
       into an accessible, engaging narrative. The history of 
       writing is not merely a record of technical innovations--
       from hieroglyphics to computers--but something far richer:
       a chronicle of emotional engagement with written culture 
       whose long arc intimates why the humanities are crucial to
       society. For five millennia, myths and legends provided 
       fascinating explanations for the origins and uses of 
       writing. These stories overflowed with enthusiasm about 
       fabled personalities (both human and divine) and their 
       adventures with capturing speech and preserving memory. 
       Stories recounted how and why an ancient Sumerian king, a 
       contemporary of Gilgamesh, invented the cuneiform writing 
       system--or alternatively, how the earliest Mesopotamians 
       learned everything from a hybrid man-fish. For centuries, 
       Jews and Christians debated whether Moses or God first 
       wrote the Ten Commandments. Throughout history, some myths
       of writing were literary fictions. Plato's tale of 
       Atlantis supposedly emerged from a vast Egyptian archive 
       of world history. Dante's vision of God as one infinite 
       book inspired Borges's fantasy of the cosmos as a 
       limitless library, while the nineteenth century bequeathed
       Mary Shelley's apocalyptic tale of a world left with 
       innumerable books but only one surviving reader." --
       |cProvided by publisher. 
650  0 Writing|xHistory. 
650  0 Language and languages|xPhilosophy. 
830  0 Information cultures. 
994    C0|bNQM