Book Impression: Lost Languages

Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World’s Undeciphered Scripts by Andrew Robinson (McGraw-Hill)

In LostLanguages, Robinson gives the reader a clearly written study of some deciphered and undeciphered scripts. The book is divided into two parts, the first of which tells of “Three Great Decipherments” – the Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Linear B, and Mayan glyphs. After this he turns to various scripts which are partly or completely undeciphered. These scripts are taken from across the world and includes:

•        The Meroitic Script (Sudan)
•       The Etruscan alphabet
•       The Proto-Elamite Script
•       Rongorongo (Easter Island)
•       The Zapotec and Isthmian Scripts (Mexico)
•        The Indus Script
•       The Pahistos Disc

Lost Languages by Andrew Robinson

Ongoing study of these undeciphered scripts is also covered, showing the remarkable work that goes into this field of study. The book is lavishly illustrated with photos and line drawings and, although it is a hefty volume, is not only suitable for academics. Rather, it is a treasure trove for anyone interested in the subject. I really enjoyed it and can highly recommend the volume.

Robinson, A. (2002). Lost Languages: The Enigma of The World’s Undeciphered Scripts.McGraw-Hill.

Some websites of interest:

Andrew Robinson's website

Ancientscripts.com – “A compendium of world-wide writing systems from prehistory to today”

An Interesting TED talk by Rejesh Rao about the Indus Script