Synopses & Reviews
"...a witty and readable (and fetchingly illustrated and glossed) excursion through the history of handwriting..." —Cullen Murphy, The Wall Street JournalSteeped in the Palmer Method of Handwriting she learned in Catholic school, Kitty Burns Florey is a self-confessed "penmanship nut" who loves the act of taking pen to paper. So when she discovered that schools today forego handwriting drills in favor of teaching something called keyboarding, it gave her pause: "There is a widespread belief that, in a digital world, forming letters on paper with a pen is pointless and obsolete," she says, "and anyone who thinks otherwise is right up there with folks who still have fallout shelters in their backyards."
Florey tackles the importance of writing by hand and its place in our increasingly electronic society in this fascinating exploration of the history of handwriting. Weaving together the evolution of writing implements and scripts, pen-collecting societies, the golden age of American penmanship, the growth in popularity of handwriting analysis, and the many aficionados who still prefer scribbling on paper to tapping on keys, she asks the question: Is writing by hand really no longer necessary in today's busy world?
Synopsis
"A witty and readable (and fetchingly illustrated and glossed) excursion through the history of handwriting."
—The Wall Street JournalLet a self-confessed "penmanship nut" take you on a tour of the strange and beautiful world of handwriting.
Since her Catholic school days learning the Palmer Method, Kitty Burns Florey has been in love with handwriting, and can't imagine a world where schools forego handwriting drills in favor of teaching something called keyboarding.
In this "winsome mix of memoir and call to arms" (Chicago Tribune), Florey weaves together the evolution of writing implements and scripts, pen-collecting societies, the golden age of American penmanship, and the growth in popularity of handwriting analysis, and asks the question: Is writing by hand really no longer necessary in today's busy world?
"Charmingly composed and handsomely presented," Script & Scribble traces the history of penmanship to the importance of writing by hand in an increasingly digital age (The Boston Globe).
About the Author
KITTY BURNS FLOREY is the author of Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences. She has also written nine novels—most recently, The Writing Master—and many short stories and essays. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.