Writing is one of humanity's greatest inventions. But how, when and where did writing evolve? This work discusses the history of decipherment and then each of the major writing systems in turn, from cuneiform and Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan.

Writing is one of humanity's greatest inventions. But how, when and where did writing evolve? This work discusses the history of decipherment and then each of the major writing systems in turn, from cuneiform and Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan.