DAVID SACKS is author of the Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World. His articles mainly on cultural topics have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Wall Street Journal, the Ottawa Citizen, and dozens of magazines. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario.
“At a time when it has become more important than ever to read
clearly and intelligently in order to dismantle the daily traps of
propaganda, this delightful book lays bare for us, with wit and
wisdom, the very building-blocks of our culture: the mysterious
letters of the alphabet that rule our language and thought.”
—Alberto Manguel, author of A History of Reading
“Reading David Sacks’s wonderful Letter Perfect is like sitting
rapt before the coolest teacher in school. Sacks’s excursion
through the alphabet is witty and smart. I was reluctant to
finally leave the classroom.”
—Mark Dunn, author of Ella Minnow Pea
“[Letter Perfect] is distinguished by its remarkably long and broad
view of the topic and its omnivorous sense of fun. … [A] clear and
appealing discussion. … [A] dazzlingly diverse array of facts. …
From discussions of the letter A’s role in meat grading, bond
rating, student ranking, and punishment for adultery to Z’s exotic
associations with Zorro, Sacks makes the history of the alphabet a
joy to read. Recommended for most libraries.”
—Library Journal (US)
“An always clever -- but rarely too clever -- educational and
entertaining history of the alphabet. A refreshing combination of
erudition and breeziness.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Sacks unfolds the romance and magic of the English alphabet.
Although Sacks writes for non-specialists, he distills an
impressive range of scholarship into his examination of the
alphabet’s complex cultural history. This is a delightfully
entertaining and engrossing tale of how the score of roman letters
that arrived in England in the seventh century eventually gave us
everything from the poetry of William Shakespeare to the official
grades used by meat inspectors to evaluate chicken.”
—Booklist
“As fun to read as it is enlightening...Sacks's obsession with
language is contagious, and I can imagine few readers whose lives
would not be enriched by what he calls his ‘voyage of
discovery.’”
—Julie Walton Shaver, The New York Times Book Review
“Sacks is at his best when he opens a world, and the worlds within
worlds that shape-shift as written language moves...Letter Perfect
is a valuable addition (edition?) for anyone who wants to know how
Anglophones got from there to here.”
—The Globe and Mail
“[Letter Perfect] is distinguished by its remarkably long and broad
view of the topic and its omnivorous sense of fun. … [A] clear and
appealing discussion. … [A] dazzlingly diverse array of facts. …
From discussions of the letter A’s role in meat grading, bond
rating, student ranking, and punishment for adultery to Z’s exotic
associations with Zorro, Sacks makes the history of the alphabet a
joy to read. Recommended for most libraries.”
—Library Journal (US)
‘Beautifully illustrated…[A] gem of popular linguistic
history…[Letter Perfect] avoids taking itself too seriously.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[A] cultural history of A to Z. Letter Perfect unravels the
mystery of the alphabet’s ancient origins, and explores its effects
on the modern world.”
—Citizen’s Weekly
“Sacks writes in a jokey, conversational style…anthropomorphiz[ing]
the letters to make their ‘biographies’ even more exciting.”
—Winnipeg Free Press
“A delightful exploration of the roots, stalks and branches of the
letter forms that proved to be so remarkably adaptable to so many
diverse, unrelated languages.”
—The Edmonton Journal
“Sacks does an excellent job tracing each letter’s
history…Well-researched and very readable.”
—Quill and Quire
“[A] delightful journey into the history of our alphabet…With a
breezy tone and a passion for letters, Sacks tells the life story
of all 26 of them — from A, the ‘first and best,’ to Z, the
least-used letter in printed English. Each of these 26
‘biographies’ is filled with entertaining and fascinating facts…In
this rich history, Sacks offers answers to all of the mysteries of
the alphabet, and a long-overdue examination of the origins of our
ABCs.”
—The Baltimore Sun
“…Journalist Sacks unfolds the romance and magic of the English
alphabet. Although Sacks writes for nonspecialists, he distills an
impressive range of scholarship into his examination of the
alphabet's complex cultural history…Delightfully entertaining and
engrossing.”
—Booklist
“An always clever — but rarely too clever — educational and
entertaining history of the alphabet….A refreshing combination of
erudition and breeziness.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Sacks’ often witty, always scientific and eminently historical
approach draws us into mysteries of time and humanity.”
—Contra Costa Times (California)
“[A] gem of popular linguistic history.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Letter Perfect is a fun bit of popular scholarship, a diverting
reference book filled with illustrations and sidebars that both
entertain and inform. It is also a success story – the story of a
‘spectacularly successful’ invention (the alphabet), culminating in
the global triumph of a spectacularly successful language
(English).”
—Kitchener-Waterloo Record (Dec. 13, 2003)
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