The Book of Lost Languages

A riveting, immersive, and puzzle-packed journey through the decoding of ancient languages, unlocking the hidden secrets of human history.

In 1799, a lieutenant in the Napoleon's army accidentally stumbled upon an engraved rock near the Egyptian port city of Rosetta. On the face of the massive boulder, he found three different ancient languages inscribed, all depicting the same message. The Rosetta Stone, as it came to be called, became the key that allowed archaeologists and linguists to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs, finally unlocking one of the world's most ancient languages.

But Egyptian hieroglyphs are only one of a dozen ancient scripts we meet in The Book of Lost Languages. Endangered language expert Daniel Harbour takes us on an adventure of discovery through the most extraordinary language decipherments in history: from the 18th century effort by a French clergyman to unlock the Palmyrene and Phoenician languages; to the Imperial court of China's use of engraved human remains known as "dragon bones" to decipher Old Chinese; to the Russian-led decoding of Mayan glyphs during the Cold War. These intricate, obsessive quests illuminated writings about millennia of human history that had previously gone unread, in the process uncovering the method and style with which our ancestors chose to describe themselves and the world around them.

Featuring puzzles throughout that help readers learn the code-breaking techniques behind this art, The Book of Lost Languages reveals the beguiling artistry behind some of the greatest puzzles ever created. Harbour weaves an utterly gripping story of people and politics, of genius and ingenuity, of blinkered skepticism and blind acceptance, and most of all, the very texture of ancient life on earth.