Canto Classics: The Decipherment of Linear B (Paperback)

from EricCostello

Slightly dry, but thorough, account of how the "Linear B" language of ancient Crete (and certain parts of nearby Greece proper) was decoded by a part-time linguist, in conjunction with a professor of linguistics. Even though the book is supposedly pitched at a "popular" audience, according to the...

from P_S_Patrick

Linear B, a mysterious unknown language written on clay tablets, was first unearthed from palace ruins on Crete during archaological digs in the late 19th Century. This here is the intriguing story of Linear B and its decipherment by Michael Ventris in the 1950s, written by his close collaborator...

from castiron

An interesting look at how a writing system was deciphered.

from nillacat

Fascinating! A brief biography and description of Ventris, a most admirable man; long descriptions of the decipherment process well written for a lay audience, an outline of such inferences regarding Mycenaean economy and culture as may be made from the limited material together with the reflexes...

from Lukerik

If you want to read about the decipherment of Linear B then this book is the motherlode. The author was a Bletchley Park code-breaker who worked with Ventris on the decipherment, so this is a first hand account. The central part of the book where he describes the breakthrough reads almost like a ...