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The Book of Lost Languages: An Epic Quest to Decipher the Past (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781635579253)
Vendor:
Daniel Harbour
Product type:
Books
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Description
xA riveting, immersive, and puzzle-packed journey through the decoding of ancient languages, unlocking the hidden secrets of human history.
In 1799, a lieutenant in the Napoleon's army accidentally stumbled upon an engraved rock near the Egyptian port city of Rosetta. On the face of the massive boulder, he found three different ancient languages inscribed, all depicting the same message. The Rosetta Stone, as it came to be called, became the key that allowed archaeologists and linguists to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs, finally unlocking one of the world's most ancient languages. But Egyptian hieroglyphs are only one of a dozen ancient scripts we meet in The Book of Lost Languages. Endangered language expert Daniel Harbour takes us on an adventure of discovery through the most extraordinary language decipherments in history: from the 18th century effort by a French clergyman to unlock the Palmyrene and Phoenician languages; to the Imperial court of China's use of engraved human remains known as "dragon bones" to decipher Old Chinese; to the Russian-led decoding of Mayan glyphs during the Cold War. These intricate, obsessive quests illuminated writings about millennia of human history that had previously gone unread, in the process uncovering the method and style with which our ancestors chose to describe themselves and the world around them. Featuring puzzles throughout that help readers learn the code-breaking techniques behind this art, The Book of Lost Languages reveals the beguiling artistry behind some of the greatest puzzles ever created. Harbour weaves an utterly gripping story of people and politics, of genius and ingenuity, of blinkered skepticism and blind acceptance, and most of all, the very texture of ancient life on earth.Author: Daniel Harbour
ISBN-10: 1635579252
ISBN-13: 9781635579253
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Language: English
Published: 01/19/2027
Pages: 400
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.25h x 6.12w x 1.00d
By Daniel Harbour
xDaniel Harbour is a leading expert on writing systems and formal linguistics and a Fellow of the British Academy. For 25 years, he has worked with speakers of endangered languages from the United States to the South Caucasus, helping preserve their knowledge for future generations. Raised in Australia and educated at Oxford and MIT, he is one of the few people alive, outside tribal elders, familiar with the Kiowa language of Oklahoma. A research professor at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and University Paris 8, he regularly works in eight languages and is conversant in several more.
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