Ancient Writing and the History of the Alphabet

By: John McWhorter, The Great Courses

Narrated by: John McWhorter

Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

The ubiquity of the written word in our everyday lives can make it easy to forget how recent the development of writing and literacy are in the span of human history. But writing is, in fact, a very recent phenomenon if we take a step back and look at the big picture of human development. Even if we simply limit our view to the existence of language, writing still occupies a small segment of time. Writing in its earliest forms, particularly, is very different than what we are familiar with today.

So, when—and where—did writing first emerge? Why did early humans find it necessary to record their thoughts in a visual medium? How did cultures that had relied solely on spoken language for thousands of years create symbols that could carry meaning? And how did all the many scripts and systems that developed over the centuries lead us to the 26-letter alphabet of the English language?

Embark on a journey to the very beginning of writing as a tool of language and see how the many threads of history and linguistics came together to create the alphabet that forms the foundation of English writing. Your guide is Professor John McWhorter of Columbia University and in the 16 lectures of Ancient Writing and the History of the Alphabet, he will help you navigate the complex linguistic and cultural history behind one of our most crucial tools of communication. With his trademark humor and conversational style, Professor McWhorter makes this larger-than-life history as entertaining as it is enlightening.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 The Great Courses (P)2023 The Teaching Company, LLC

Unexpectedly interesting and engaging!

Professor McWhorter is amazing. He takes the history of the alphabet, which should be rather "hum-drum but informative", and turns it into something entertaining!

I think his long tenure as a lecturer has given him the confidence to relax more, and present the story in a more creative and interesting way. He is frequently funny and his analogies are amusing and useful!

I'm so thankful that he strongly resists presenting "lists of facts". When my daughter was in elementary school, she signed up for the 'frogs and amphibians club', but instead of learning about them, the children were simply memorizing their sounds and being tested on matching the sounds to the right amphibian. That's not learning, that's merely rote memorization and while it might appeal to a certain demographic, it wasn't enhancing her understanding of anything useful, so we stopped going.

So anyway, avoiding lists... Professor McWhorter "gets" what is true understanding and provides exactly that. He goes into significant details on how and why things happened... and with a lot of humor, so you'll want to keep listening!

I also like how he makes fun of the BCE-crowd and freely uses that and BC/AD. Once again, he has the confidence to be relaxed about this stuff and focus on what's important instead.

One of the best!

I have listened to dozens of great courses, with subject matters as diverse as Shakespearean tragedies to Quantum Physics. Professor McWorther is one of the best and this subject matter is absolutely fascinating. Five stars!

Highly entertaining, funny and informative

John McWhorter may be my favorite Great Courses lecturer. He has a knack for transforming what traditionally is one of the more tedious subjects into one of the most fascinating stories ever told. You will never see words and language the same way again. His lectures are infused with a Seinfeld like comedy which while maybe a bit hit and miss really helps highlight the absurdity of language evolution and makes for a highly entertaining listening experience.

Smart, Funny, Quirky

Who even knew to be curious about the origins of the actual letters? John McWhorter did and I am grateful for it!

Much less interesting than the rest of his stuff

I've listened to most of McWhorter's books and lectures. I'm always a bit disappointed when he "repeats" topicd between books, so this one seemed like it would be right up my alley. On the one hand, it was what I asked for: all new stuff! On the other hand, it just wasn't that interesting...

A gift for McWhorter fans

When you know, you know. Enjoy. (Nine more words are required for an official review.)

Fun little series

Anything McWhorter is delightful, every time he says, "And you know" I think there's a showtune coming

Great performance by John McWhorter

I love the theme and how the story evolves. it really captures my interest, also John has this funny geek jokes that really made me smile many times.
this course opened up my mind about human language's evolution.

lots of fun facts to open up conversations!!

Engaging!

I'm not even done yet. Dr. McWhorter is wonderful. He brings such humor to his lectures. He makes these lectures so colorful on a subject that most people would scoff at for being incredibly boring. Thank you!

Learned a ton and enjoyed the lecturer’s approach

Liked that all linguistic concepts were intuitively explained before the academic terminology was used - it made the lectures interesting and understandable.