| |||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Where do these people come from?,
This review is from: Maya Glyphs (Reading the Past) (Paperback)
As the author of this slim book I should probably respond to the annoying review by Kuhn. First of all, the book's length was established by the British Museum Press -- I had nothing to do with this decision. "Maya Glyphs" forms part of a series, all of which are volumes of equal length. Second, the manuscript was prepared in 1988. Obviously I would not write precisely the same book today. The Press has never allowed me to revise the book, and it certainly needs to be replaced. Mike Coe will soon publish, with Mark Van Stone, an introductory volume that should please and instruct readers. Most other books on Maya glyphs cannot be recommended at this time.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More should have been better,
By A Customer
This review is from: Maya Glyphs (Reading the Past) (Paperback)
A very concise description of maya writing. Really useful for beginners trying to understand the mechanics of the mayan writing system. But in some sense it lacks some deepness. It stays on the surface, even though its author is one of the big names on mayan epigraphy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Was a Nice Introduction to Maya Glyphs 20 Years Ago.,
By
This review is from: Maya Glyphs (Reading the Past) (Paperback)
"Maya Glyphs" is part of the British Museum's "Reading the Past" series that introduces readers to ancient scripts. These are all slim volumes that are intended only to explain in general terms how a script developed, how it works, who used it and how, with examples. Even so, the "Maya Glyphs" volume is weaker than the others in the series, because the script is still in the process of being deciphered, which renders some of this volume obsolete, and because Maya glyphs were extremely complex. It is difficult to convey how they work in such a short space. None of this is the author, S.D. Houston's, fault, but readers may be happier with the more recent "Reading the Maya Glyphs" by Michael Coe, which Houston himself recommends.
"Maya Glyphs" is not without value, however. Maya glyphs are the written version of languages that are 4,000 years old now but which did not achieve literacy until perhaps the third century. Their golden age was during the 3rd-9th centuries, after which the written language declined and was entirely forgotten by the 18th century. During its peak, about 5,000 texts were written in Maya glyphs, either carved or painted. Modern man was ignorant of their meaning until a renewal of interest in the glyphs in the 19th century set epigraphers on the road to deciphering them. When this book was published in 1989, 60% of the glyphs had been deciphered, and points of grammar are still contentious. Houston takes us through the progress of the 19th and 20th centuries. Then he introduces the reader to the structure of the language, which combines logographs and phonograms. Houston attempts to explain how the glyphs are employed: in compounds, as affixes, main signs, and phonetic syllables. There are also ideographs, which are poorly understood. Scribes could write the same word or syllable many different ways. Houston isn't kidding when he calls Maya glyphs "one of the most complex scripts ever devised". I don't think there was much hope for widespread literacy with this script. It's interesting that the Mayans used their written language to record history, not to make financial accounts, which is often the impetus behind written language. It's not that they didn't like numbers. Mayans were preoccupied with calendars, which the author explains in some detail.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
|
|
|
|
