Val Ross,
You Can’t Read This: Forbidden Books, Lost Writing, Mistranslations, and Codes
Tundra Books, 2006.

Rating: E*

A book to give to everyone that you know! Every library should own a copy of this little gem. Each chapter begins with either a pithy quotation or comment that will grab the readers’ attention. This book explores the decoding of ancient languages and censorship from ancient Rome to modern America. It’s about secret writing, books that were thought to have magical powers, and it is about people - from slaves to girls in Afghanistan in the year 2001. Writing, books and the history of society are all packed neatly into 140 pages! This is published as a juvenile book but it’s scope covers all ages. It is succinct, full of interesting information, which is backed by the source notes. It contains a Table of Contents and an Index.

A book meant to be dipped into and returned to. Read it - buy it - talk it up!

Thematic Links: Books and reading - History; Reading - History

Eva Wilson
Vol. 11, number 5
June 2006

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.