Louis Godart

this book delivers more than its title might make you think, as it goes way beyond what could be expected from the title- and goes into the dual relationship between a society, its organization, and how language can be both cause and effect on both.

I read this book both out of curiosity- and as it matches some of my oldest interests (e.g. read book on ancient, lost, rediscovered languages, their "decoding", etc- well before even reading my first book or article on cryptoanalysis), relatively recent ones (late 1970s) on how cultures evolve and replace existing ones (including of course Toynbee- albeit in a shortened version of just 1,000 pages), and more recent readings on the Aegean civilization, Mycenaean history, etc.

for somebody focused on cultural and organizational change and their impacts, as well as used to embed technology in both, the most entertaining part is the discussion on how language could have evolved for practical uses, when the village became a city, and the hut of the tribe chief became a palace

even more interesting is to read how some forms of writings actually could support communication across cultures, while leaving each one to add its own "details" or interpretation layers

if you are into designing communication tools and processes for an audience, having a look at this book (and visualizing in your mind what the author writes) might help in making your message reach even the most occasional audience- as our brains did not change that much since the 2nd millennium B.C.

I read the book in Italian, but other versions are available in different languages (e.g. French)… (mehr)