Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code and the Uncovering of a Lost Civilisation - Brossura

Margalit Fox

4

3.464 valutazioni di Goodreads

9781781251324: Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code and the Uncovering of a Lost Civilisation

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1781251320 ISBN 13: 9781781251324

Casa editrice: Profile Books, 2013

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The decoding of Linear B is one of the world's greatest stories: from the discovery of a cache of ancient tablets recording a lost prehistoric language to the dramatic solution of the riddle nearly seventy years later, it exerts a mesmerizing pull on the imagination. But, captivating as it is, this story is missing a crucial piece. Two men have dominated Linear B in popular history: Arthur Evans, the intrepid Victorian archaeologist who unearthed Linear B at Knossos and Michael Ventris, the dashing young amateur who produced a solution. But there was a third figure: Alice Kober, without whose painstaking work, recorded on pieces of paper clipped from hymn-sheets and magazines and stored in cigarette boxes in her Brooklyn loft, Linear B might still remain a mystery. Drawing on Kober's own papers - only made available recently - Margalit Fox provides the final piece of the enigma, and along the way reveals how you decipher a language when you know neither its grammar nor its alphabet as well as the stories behind other ancient languages, like the dancing-man Rongorongo of Easter Island.

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Recensione:

'Fox spins a fascinating yarn centered around an unlikely heroine: a devoted academic spinster who died before accomplishing her life's mission of cracking an ancient script. ... Fox's deft explanations of the script-solving process complete with supplemental photos and illustrations of the text allow readers to share in the mental detective work of cracking the lost language.' Publishers Weekly

'Fox is a talented storyteller, and she creates an atmosphere of almost nail-biting suspense: We know the code was eventually cracked, but while we're reading the book we're on the edge of our seats. This one deserves shelf space along such classics of the genre as Simon Singh's The Code Book.' Booklist (Starred Review)

'Fox recreates the emergence of one of history's most vexing puzzles and then puts readers alongside the remarkable figures who, brilliantly, obsessively, and even tragically, devoted their lives to solving it. Forget The Da Vinci Code. This is the real thing.' Toby Lester, author of Da Vinci's Ghost

'Margalit Fox describes the decipherment of Linear B in such lucid detail that any reader can follow the steps and participate in the thrill of discovery.' --Stephen Mitchell, translator of Gilgamesh and the Iliad

'Truly mesmerising. It's also a lovely testament to language and the history of linguistics' --Sunday Herald

'The details of how the tablets were deciphered are complicated, and it's a credit to Fox's clear, confident writing that following them isn't too painful. As with any good detective story, there's a driving narrative behind the puzzle, peopled by solitary sleuths who allow marital problems or bills to stack up as they devote themselves to the hunt ... her enthusiasm is compelling when talking about the raw inventive brainpower of the code-breakers, their unswerving passion, and the magical way that a set of lines and curves in clay can be transformed into something with meaning' Observer

'The author's triumph lies in her presentation of this complex subject, narrated with the pace and excitement of a detective' --Country Life

'A fascinating and very readable account of the life and work of the three scholars whose separate efforts over the course of a century eventually led to the cracking of Linear B. This group biography elegantly illustrates how progress in historical scholarship is made possible by the work of many hands, not just those of a single genius' --History Today