About this item

A profound, eloquent meditation on the history of writing, from Mesopotamia to multimedia.Why does writing exist? What does it mean to those who write? Born from the interplay of natural and cultural history, the seemingly magical act of writing has continually expanded our consciousness. Portrayed in mythology as either a gift from heroes or a curse from the gods, it has been used as both an instrument of power and a channel of the divine; a means of social bonding and of individual self-definition. Now, as the revolution once wrought by the printed word gives way to the digital age, many fear that the art of writing, and the nuanced thinking nurtured by writing, are under threat. But writing itself, despite striving for permanence, is always in the midst of growth and transfiguration.



About the Author

Matthew Battles

As a twelve year old, Matthew Battles accidentally threw a baseball through the window of the public library in Petersburg, Illinois; he's been paying for it ever since. His first book, Library: An Unquiet History, appeared in 2004. He has written about language, culture, nature, technology, and history for the American Scholar, the Atlantic Online, the Boston Globe, and the Wilson Quarterly, among other publications. He is editor and lead writer at Gearfuse.com, a blog covering science, technology, and culture. He also blogs at HiLobrow.com, and is at work on a book about the sentimental and natural history of handwriting. On Twitter, he's @matthewbattles.



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