The World on Paper: The Conceptual and Cognitive Implications of Writing and Reading

What role has writing played in the development of our modern understanding of language, nature and ourselves? In this historical and developmental account, David Olson offers a new perspective on this process. Reversing the traditional assumption about the relation between speech and writing, he argues that writing provides an important model of the way we think about speech; our consciousness of language is structured by our writing system. In addition, writing provides our dominant models for thinking about nature and the mind, and shows how our understanding of the world - our science - and our understanding of ourselves - our psychology - are by-products of our ways of creating and interpreting written texts. This challenging study draws on recent advances in history, anthropology, linguistics and psychology, and will be of interest to readers across the range of these subjects.

Table of Contents:
1. Demythologising literacy; 2. Theories of literacy and mind from Levy-Bruhl to Scribner and Cole; 3. Literacy and the conceptual revolutions of Classical Greece and Renaissance Europe; 4. What writing represents; 5. What writing doesn't represent; 6. The problem of interpretation; 7. A history of reading; 8. Reading the Book of Nature; 9. A history of written discourse; 10. Representing the world in maps, diagrams, formulas, pictures and texts; 11. Representing the mind; 12. The making of the literate mind.

Review :
"This carefully crafted book is the result of focused intelligence and a great deal of learning." Anthropological Linguistics "The comprehensive bibliography alone makes this book valuable. But the intriguing insights and carefully reasoned arguments make it a pleasure." J. Aber, Choice "Researchers and theorists in cognitive psychology, linguistics, and education, as well as others interested in the role of literacy in personal and social change, will find Olson's arguments compelling and easily read." Jon Shapiro and Harold Derksen, Contemporary Psychology "His discussion of thinking about the interplay of reader, text, and writer as it has affected the transformation of religion--particularly Christianity from the time of St. Thomas Aquinas to Jerry Falwell--is provocative for those who would understand the ways in which sacred texts have been and continue to be read." Alan C. Purves, Cross Currents "...displays an amazing range...Olson pushes the analysis beyond any others, finding printing's effect deep in the West's psyche...Specialists in this area owe a debt to...Olson for providing this kind of stimulation." Jack R. Censer, History of Education Quarterly "...new perspective on the impact of writing on the development of our understanding of language, nature and ourselves...the book contains illustrations; it ties up various approaches to the problem and will certainly encourage further research in this field." Journal of Indo-European Studies