Book - Alpha Beta

By John the Man. Traces the ancestory of the alphabet. All very interesting. But for me the most striking idea from the book are the parallels he draws between the Chinese/Mongolian and the Egyptian/Israelite historical relationships. China and Egypt were settled cultures with writing systems based originally on pictures - Mongolians and the Israelites were a collection of 'barbaric' nomadic tribes to the north, constantly raiding their rich neighbours to the south. Even more striking is that both the Mongolians and the Israelites considered they had a mandate from heaven and both adapted other culture's alphabet writing systems to make tribal unity work. And still after all this time..........no accommodation.