Description |
xiv, 464 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [445]-453) and index. |
Summary |
The author "proposes that alphabetic literacy--the process of reading itself--fundamentally rewired the human brain, with profound consequences for culture, history, and religion. ... Shlain argues that, with the advent of literacy, the very act of reading an alphabet reinforced the brain's left hemisphere--linear, abstract, predominantly masculine--at the expense of the right--holistic, concrete, visual, feminine. ... [This book] tracks the correlations between the rise and fall of literacy and the changing status of women in society, mythology, and religions throughout European history, and in other cultures as well."--Jacket. |
Contents |
1. Image/Word -- 2. Hunters/Gatherers -- 3. Right Brain/Left Brain -- 4. Males: Death/Females: Life -- 5. Nonverbal/Verbal -- 6. Cuneiform/Marduk -- 7. Hieroglyphs/Isis -- 8. Aleph/Bet -- 9. Hebrews/Israelites -- 10. Abraham/Moses -- 11. Thera/Matzah -- 12. Adam/Eve -- 13. Cadmus/Alpha -- 14. Sappho/Ganymede -- 15. Dionysus/Apollo -- 16. Athens/Sparta -- 17. Lingam/Yoni -- 18. Birth/Death -- 19. Yin/Yang -- 20. Taoism/Confucianism -- 21. B.C./A.D. -- 22. Jesus/Christ -- 23. Death/Rebirth -- 24. Patriarchs/Heretics -- 25. Reason/Madness -- 26. Illiteracy/Celibacy, 500-1000 -- 27. Muslin Veils/Muslim Words -- 28. Mystic/Scholastic, 1000-1300 -- 29. Humanist/Egoist, 1300-1500 -- 30. Protestant/Catholic -- 31. Faith/Hate -- 32. Sorcery/Science -- 33. Positive/Negative, 1648-1899 -- 34. ID/Superego, 1900-1945 -- 35. Page/Screen, 1945-2000 |
Subject |
Written communication -- Social aspects.
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Literacy -- Social aspects.
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Alphabet -- History.
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Language and culture.
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Patriarchy.
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Misogyny.
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Other Form: |
Online version: Shlain, Leonard. Alphabet versus the goddess. New York : Viking, 1998 (OCoLC)607065174 |
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Online version: Shlain, Leonard. Alphabet versus the goddess. New York : Viking, 1998 (OCoLC)608145378 |
ISBN |
0670878839 alkaline paper |
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9780670878833 alkaline paper |
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