{"product_id":"the-alphabet","title":"David Sacks: The Alphabet [2003] hardback","description":"There is a story behind each letter of the alphabet. Why is the X the Unknown or shorthand for a Kiss? Which letter came last, historically, in the alphabet? (J) How did a few squggles, invented a thousand years ago to denote sounds of a now vanished Semetic language, survive to become our letters today? While China and Japan rely mainly on scripts of ideograms, three-quarters of humanity uses some kind of alphabet. Chinese writing requires 2000 basic symbols (but there's no language barrier), where an alphabet needs typically less than 30. From A-Z, David Sacks provides answers to the most fascinating questions about the way we talk, write and think in a book which will also be illustrated graphically throughout - not just with variations of individual letters but with maps, charts and general narrative images.","brand":"Sacks, David","offers":[{"title":"Very Good","offer_id":50043267645779,"sku":"XV80091795061","price":9.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0616\/4001\/6057\/files\/sacks-david-the-alphabet-xv80091795061-60627149783379.jpg?v=1735965120","url":"https:\/\/chaptersbookstore.com\/products\/the-alphabet","provider":"Chapters Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}