The Alphabet - Couverture rigide

Sacks, David

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0091795060 ISBN 13 : 9780091795061

Editeur : Hutchinson, 2003

Synopsis

There is a story behind each letter of the alphabet. Why is the X the Unknown or shorthand for a Kiss? Which letter came last, historically, in the alphabet? (J) How did a few squggles, invented a thousand years ago to denote sounds of a now vanished Semetic language, survive to become our letters today? While China and Japan rely mainly on scripts of ideograms, three-quarters of humanity uses some kind of alphabet. Chinese writing requires 2000 basic symbols (but there's no language barrier), where an alphabet needs typically less than 30. From A-Z, David Sacks provides answers to the most fascinating questions about the way we talk, write and think in a book which will also be illustrated graphically throughout - not just with variations of individual letters but with maps, charts and general narrative images.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Sacks is a freelance writer for New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Harpers, Elle etc. He now lives in Canada with his wife and two children. He is 53.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Hutchinson
• Date d'édition: 2003
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0091795060
• ISBN 13: 9780091795061
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 416
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible