{"product_id":"9781619024724","title":"The Golden Thread: The Story of Writing","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the simple representative shapes used to record transactions of goods and services in ancient Mesopotamia, to the sophisticated typographical resources available to the twenty-first-century users of desktop computers, the story of writing is the story of human civilization itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCalligraphy expert Ewan Clayton traces the history of an invention which—ever since our ancestors made the transition from a nomadic to an agrarian way of life in the eighth century BC—has been the method of codification and dissemination of ideas in every field of human endeavour, and a motor of cultural, scientific and political progress. He explores the social and cultural impact of, among other stages, the invention of the alphabet; the replacement of the papyrus scroll with the codex in the late Roman period; the perfecting of printing using moveable type in the fifteenth century and the ensuing spread of literacy; the industrialization of printing during the Industrial Revolution; the impact of artistic Modernism on the written word in the early twentieth century—and of the digital switchover at the century’s close.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Golden Thread\u003c\/i\u003e also raises issues of urgent interest for a society living in an era of unprecedented change to the tools and technologies of written communication.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Counterpoint Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47056456974576,"sku":"9781619024724","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781619024724_p0.jpg?v=1763853782","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781619024724","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}