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The Riddle Of The Labyrinth: The Quest To Crack An Ancient Code (2013)

by Margalit Fox(Favorite Author)

3.88 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0062228838 (ISBN13: 9780062228833)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Ecco

review 1: I am supportive of any book that brings linguistics to the masses, but this perhaps a leaned a bit too far towards popularization rather than linguistics for my taste. The tale of the personalities involved in deciphering the ancient languages was interesting on its own merits; while the third-class status of female professionals in the mid-twentieth century was depressingly unsurprising, it adds some sociological insight to the telling.
review 2: I read this book for my book club and would never have picked it up on my own. It turned out to be a fascinating detective story. The discovery in 1894 of an unknown, ancient (1500 BC) language code found on hundreds of tablets in Knossos, Crete begins a decades long obsession to decode them. These tablets, known as ... moreLinear B, predated Ancient Greek writing by a 1000 years and bore no resemblance to it. The author weaves an engrossing tale of the people who dedicated their lives to deciphering Linear B, even at the cost of their own health. Linear B turned out to be inventories for the royal families in Knossos. The author turns these tallies into a very compelling look at what life was like in Crete 3,500 years ago. less

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