Disc 1. What is writing -- The origins and development of writing -- Where did our alphabet come from? -- The fubark : a German alphabet -- Chinese : a logosyllabic script -- Japanese : the world's mos complex script.
Disc 2. What is decipherment? -- The five pillars of decipherment -- Epigraphic illustration -- The history of language -- Proper nouns and cultural context -- Bilinguals, biscripts, and other constraints.
Disc 3. Egyptian : the first great decipherment -- What do Egyptian hieroglyphs say? -- Old Persian : cuneiform deciphered -- What does cuneiform say? -- Mycenaean linear B : an ancient syllabary -- Mayan glyphs : a new world logosyllabary.
Disc 4. What do the Mayan glyphs say? -- Aztec hieroglyphs : a recent decipherment -- Etruscan and Meroitic : undeciphered scripts -- Han'gul, Tengwar, and other featural scripts -- Medium and message -- The future of writing.
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