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matt00794's review
4.0
So I would give the audio book a three probably but the book itself is really good. Because it’s about language and how to write and form it’s hard to understand in some parts luckily there’s a pdf with some photos and pictures but still I think the physical book would be better. Another kind of issue I had is this is a really narrative driven book and I just have issues with that in audio form so it’s more of a me thing but again I think I would have liked the physical book also if your bad with names like I am this might be a hard audio book. On to the positives this is a really interesting story with the gradual modernization of written Chinese and partially the history of Mandarin and Cantonese. Unlike English Chinese characters were built of parts often times to look like the thing itself thus there were no letters but 1000s of potential parts. I haven’t tried it out but i highly recommend the physical book.
carrieberrie's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
Really interesting topic, definitely more meaningful with a knowledge of the Chinese language. Loved the bits about telegraphy and digitization. But does that annoying thing where the author takes a bit too much liberty with the emotions of historical figures
nsperr92's review
This will be an extra fun read if you are an information science student/professional
honeydew1092's review
5.0
Just finished this book on the history of the Chinese script. It has everything I like: a light narrative, history, linguistics, 1940s China, the history of computing, Taiwan v China. Such a good book and worth a read if you are into any of these things.
abeanbg's review against another edition
3.0
Very well-researched, but couldn't sustain my interest.
dxr's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
Very informative and interesting topic. I learned a lot. Although a bit boring to listen to.