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  • The Riddle of the Labyrinth

  • The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code
  • By: Margalit Fox
  • Narrated by: Pam Ward
  • Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (16 ratings)
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The Riddle of the Labyrinth

By: Margalit Fox
Narrated by: Pam Ward
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Summary

In the tradition of Simon Winchester and Dava Sobel, The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code tells one of the most intriguing stories in the history of language, masterfully blending history, linguistics, and cryptology with an elegantly wrought narrative. When famed archaeologist Arthur Evans unearthed the ruins of a sophisticated Bronze Age civilization that flowered on Crete 1,000 years before Greece's Classical Age, he discovered a cache of ancient tablets, Europe's earliest written records. For half a century, the meaning of the inscriptions, and even the language in which they were written, would remain a mystery.

Award-winning New York Times journalist Margalit Fox's riveting real-life intellectual detective story travels from the Bronze Age Aegean-the era of Odysseus, Agamemnon, and Helen-to the turn of the 20th century and the work of charismatic English archeologist Arthur Evans, to the colorful personal stories of the decipherers. These include Michael Ventris, the brilliant amateur who deciphered the script but met with a sudden, mysterious death that may have been a direct consequence of the decipherment; and Alice Kober, the unsung heroine of the story whose painstaking work allowed Ventris to crack the code.

©2013 Margalit Fox (P)2013 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"Fox is a talented storyteller, and she creates an atmosphere of almost nail-biting suspense. . . . This one deserves shelf space along such classics of the genre as Simon Singh's The Code Book." (Booklist Starred Review)

What listeners say about The Riddle of the Labyrinth

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  • JM
  • 24-08-17

really interesting read.

I really enjoyed the well researched and lively narrative. covers areas of history that do not normally get discussed in wonderful detail. Very satisfying.

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Fascinating

I thoroughly enjoyed the reading BUT felt I needed to purchase a written copy in order to see and understand the process of decipherment. The PDF is useful but personally, I wanted to read and think about Linear B a bit more...

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