Library Journal
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Linear B is a script first found on clay tablets excavated on the island of Crete and later at Pylos on the Greek mainland and dating to the Mycenaean period, circa 1400 BCE. The story of its decipherment by Michael Ventris (1922-56) has already been told, e.g., in John Chadwick's The Decipherment of Linear B (1958), and in Andrew Robinson's The Man Who Deciphered Linear B (2002). Now Fox (senior writer, New York Times; Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind), a trained linguist, brings to the fore the groundbreaking work of American classical scholar Alice Kober (1906-50) whose syllabic grids made Ventris's breakthrough possible. Fox starts with the story of "The Digger," Sir Arthur Evans (1851-1941), the British archaeologist who excavated the first tablets on Crete and made the first attempts to decode them. The reader then meets Kober, whom Fox dubs "The Detective" for her discovery of the syllabic nature of the script. Kober's work enabled "The Architect" Ventris to identify the texts as archaic Greek. Fox totally engages the reader in the decipherment process and summarizes the content of the tablets: primarily inventory records of people and produce. VERDICT This exciting linguistic adventure, intended for the nonspecialist, is recommended to anyone interested in archaeological mysteries-and even to crossword puzzle enthusiasts!-Edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Pierce, FL (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

*Starred Review* Discovered on ancient clay tablets in Crete in 1900 and deciphered half a century later, Linear B is the oldest known dialect of the Greek language, dating from about 1450 BCE. The story of its discovery by British archaeologist Arthur Evans and decipherment by British architect Michael Ventris is often told, but what is less frequently documented is the story of the American woman, Alice Kober, who laid much of the groundwork for the decipherment and who might have cracked the code herself, if she had not died in her early forties. Focusing on Kober's efforts to tease meaning out of the strange, hitherto unknown symbols, Fox tells the story behind the story. Yes, Ventris made some brilliant deductive leaps, but without Kober's years of painstaking work, those leaps could not have happened. You might think a book about trying to decipher a 3,000-year-old language wouldn't be particularly exciting, but in this case you'd be wrong. Fox is a talented storyteller, and she creates an atmosphere of almost nail-biting suspense. We know the code was eventually cracked, but while we're reading the book, we're on the edge of our seats. This one deserves shelf space alongside such classics in the literature of decryption as Simon Singh's The Code Book (1999).--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist

Publishers Weekly
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Linguist and New York Times senior writer Fox spins a fascinating yarn centered around an unlikely heroine: a devoted academic spinster who died before accomplishing her life's mission of cracking an ancient script. In 1900, aristocratic archaeologist Arthur J. Evans put his "tirelessness, fearlessness, boundless curiosity, wealth, and myopia" to work in excavating Knossos, where Linear B-the script in question-was discovered on clay tablets in the ruins of a Cretan palace. Architect Michael Ventris eventually completed the decipherment of the language, having built off the work of Alice Kober, the languages professor at the heart of the tale. Working at her kitchen table in the 1940s, hand-cutting over 150,000 cards to systematically catalogue Linear B, Kober and her "passion... for the life of the mind" historically have been overshadowed by the two more famous men who bookended her endeavors. Fox's deft explanations of the script-solving process-complete with supplemental photos and illustrations of the text-allow readers to share in the mental detective work of cracking the lost language. Ultimately, the revelation here is the enduring nature of writing as an expression of humanity, a message passed not through content, but through the act of interpretation and the passionate endeavor to understand. Photos & illus. Agent: Katinka Matson, Brockman, Inc. (May 14) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.