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  • Ferrara, Silvia, author.
     
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  • Portnowitz, Todd, translator.
     
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  • Writing -- History.
     
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  • Inscriptions -- History.
     
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  • Extinct languages
     
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  •  Ferrara, Silvia, author.
     
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  •  The Greatest inventi...
     
     
     
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    The Greatest invention : a history of the world in nine mysterious scripts / Silvia Ferrara ; translated from the Italian by Todd Portnowitz.
    by Ferrara, Silvia, author., Portnowitz, Todd, translator.
    New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022.
    Description: 
    viii, 289 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
    Edition: 
    First American edition.
    Contents: 
    Behind the scenes. Stories ; Nature -- Undeciphered scripts. Islands. Crete ; Cyprus ; Easter Island -- Invented scripts. Cities ; Before the Pharaohs ; Between two rivers ; Chinese turtles ; Across the ocean ; End of story -- Experiments. Tradition ; Solitary inventors ; Isolated branches ; Social inventors -- Discoveries. Where to begin ; How to decipher -- The great vision. First ; Afterward ; Tomorrow ; Postscriptum.
    Summary: 
    "Silvia Ferrara leads a code cracking mission to decipher the hidden truths and histories of our greatest invention--the art of writing"---Provided by publisher.
    Ferrara takes a profound look at how-- and how many times-- human beings have managed to produce the miracle of written language around the world. Readers will examine the enigmas of undeciphered scripts; study the turtle shells and ox scapulae that bear the earliest Chinese inscriptions, and venture to the cutting edge as high-powered laser scanners bring tears to an engineer's eyes. Ferrara chronicles a journey filled with past flashes of brilliance, present-day scientific research, and a faint glimpse of writing's future -- adapted from jacket.
    Notes: 
    "Originally published in Italian in 2019 ... as La grande invenzione ... English translation published in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux First American edition 2022" -- verso.
    Purchased with grant funds from the State Library of Iowa and Institute of Museum and Library Services
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    LocationCollectionCall No.CopyStatus 
    Peosta LibraryNewly Acquired Books (located by computers)411.09 Fer2022Checked InAdd Copy to MyList

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