Reviews

The alphabet's worldwide diffusion can be compared to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, John Man proposes in his narrative search for "Alphabeticus Originalis."
Sweeping from one ancient culture to another, Man unearths archaeological finds, debates biblical myths and provides scientific evidence to support his theory of the alphabet's germination and development.
Using a highly accessible format sharper than the dull edge of the usual historical text, "Alpha Beta" traces its subject on a historical journey around the Mediterranean. Beginning with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and cuneiform, Man, a historian and travel writer, follows the evolution of letters from one great civilization to another.
Paying his respects to the early development of script in China and an especially practical Korean alphabet, Man drives into Sinai in his four-wheel drive to begin his study of the Israelites.
"What emerges in the Sinai wilderness--or the metaphorical wilderness--is a blueprint for group survival unprecedented in history."
The blueprint, Man explains, was based on monotheism and fixed commandments. And it worked because the laws were written in a simple script that did not require excessive knowledge: an alphabet.
In the Phoenicians, Man finds another people to support his hypothesis.
"These port peoples needed a good writing system if only to keep trade records. ... They were ripe for the alphabet, knowledge of which was slowly filtering outwards from its southern Palestine dispersal centre."
Similarly, the alphabet arrived in Greece "and attached itself to a society at a crucial stage in its evolution--a youngish culture ... with no apparent loyalty to an established writing system."
Quickly moving along the Mediterranean, a "land that must have seemed ripe for the plucking" is encountered. But before discussing the true founders of Rome, Man devotes several pages to the outrageous exploits of Thomas Dempster, a forgotte