The Greatest Invention: A History of the World in Nine Mysterious Scripts (Paperback)

Brisk, simple to follow and unfussy – though the author has a way with a helpful metaphor, for which we non-experts are grateful . . . Ferrara’s book is an introduction to writing as a process of revelation, but it’s also a celebration of these things still undeciphered, and many other tantalising mysteries besides. - Daniel Hahn, Spectator

In Silvia Ferrara’s conception of it, writing is a fragile object, nurtured over many phases of human development . . . The Greatest Invention is a celebration not of achievements, but of moments of illumination and 'the most important thing in the world: our desire to be understood.' - Lydia Wilson, The Times Literary Supplement

Ferrara says she wrote the book the way she talks to friends over dinner, and that’s exactly how it reads. Instead of telling a chronological history of writing, she moves freely from script to script, island to island . . . She is constantly by our side, prodding us with questions, offering speculations, reporting on exciting discoveries . . . . her book doubles as a manifesto for collaborative research. - Martin Puchner, The New York Times Book Review

[An] intellectually stimulating, chattily written survey of the invention and significance of writing in both the ancient and modern world. - Minerva magazine

Part reconnaissance, part time machine, part ode to our complex species, Ferrara's enchanting book unearths not only our writing systems but our humanity itself. - Amanda Montell, author of Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language

From Crete to Easter Island, everywhere in between, and back again, Ferrara illuminates the sheer magic that the invention of writing actually was, while also sharing the pure joy of being a scientist. Plus, the translation is exquisite. - John McWhorter, author of Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America

Deftly translated by Portnowitz, Ferrara’s book is more than a cook’s tour of the history, present, and future of writing . . . Ferrara capably conveys the sensory magic of writing: sound made visible and tangible. - Kirkus Reviews

Silvia Ferrara is enviably expert in an enviably attractive and important field - early scripts and their decipherment or (as cryptographers would have it) decoding. Dr Ferrara sheds swathes of light on how we developed writing systems throughout the world, and her own specialism, Cypro-Minoan, reveals that two islands, Cyprus and Crete, are critical to one truly "great invention", the advancement of human civilisation. - Paul Cartledge, author of Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece and The Spartans