Synopsis
‘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.‘ - The Spectator
This book tells the story of our greatest invention. Or, it almost does. Almost, because while the story has a beginning – in fact, it has many beginnings, not only...
Details
08 June 2023304 pages
9781529064780Imprint: Picador
Reviews
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
