Learn World Calligraphy: Discover African, Arabic, Chinese, Ethiopic, Greek, Hebrew, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Russian, Thai, Tibetan Calligraphy, and Beyond Paperback – August 23, 2011

I am a lover of hard-copy books. I began collecting calligraphy books when I was in the sixth grade and have been able to write in "Chancery Cursive" since then. As an older adult now, I am interested in world cultures and have taken a liking to language, phonetics and the visual impact of the written word in languages all around the world. I like the look of writing even when I can't understand the literal meaning of the words or symbols. There is some communication from the page to the viewer which doesn't depend upon understanding the words. Perhaps it's spiritual. Calligraphy does try to impart a message through graceful rendering of the present moment.The author's approach is that we all can appreciate the world's calligraphy and we can write those scripts too! She provides instruction on using pen, brush and paper so the reader can delve into these other scripts from places we'll probably never get to visit. She has created Roman-character alphabets based upon these scripts so we can incorporate the look of a particular exotic alphabet with words of our own language.Being an e-book which I can read on my tablet is great because the tablet is so portable. The e-book is also available for a low price whereas the hard-copy book is out of print, pricey and difficult to find."Learn World Calligraphy" is a wonderful book which I am enjoying tremendously.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in learning about the world calligraphy. The author does a great job in explaining the basic. She cover the basic history about each calligraphy. My favorite part of this book is the section about "DOT to be read with your ears" the author tells you about Morse Code and tell you about the Braille system. This section of the book makes a great lesson plan for any art teacher to have their students spell their name in Braille and also teaching them to respect a language that is often not included in calligraphy books.However, I do wish the book had a hidden spiral cover so it would lay flat, but this does not take away from this exquisite book.I am thankful to this author for letting me travel and explore other country through her book by sharing her knowledge and calligraphy skills. This book offers a rich sources of information about other culture writing language.I do not recommend this book to someone who is looking to master the calligraphy language of another country. Also if you are a scholar that is looking for in-depth study of world language then you might be disappointed. This book give its readers a glimpse of the basic knowledge of world calligraphy.This book works for me as a teaching tool in an informal setting as an introduction to other culture and their writing system. If you want to learn about world calligraphy then this book is a great place to start .PENANDINK777

I have started researching manuscripts and calligraphy in a couple of languages and found this book to be a very valuable resource for anybody interested in expanding their calligraphy knowledge or get some ideas for future projects. I have been able to adapt some of the alphabets to meet my needs and found it easy and user-friendly. Even my 7 year-old found this book very exciting to look at as it is not only full of a variety of applications per language but also has many pictures of uses of calligraphy in the foreign language as well as very engaging English adaptations of them. Highly recommended especially for teachers interested in integrating World Studies into their new Common Core curriculum.

This book has gems on every page, even for the non-calligrapher, like me. Who knew that the Chinese write in vertical lines because originally they wrote on bamboo slats? (p. 76). Or who invented the ubiquitous Greek-key takeout coffee cup and why? (p. 110) Or that Cyrillic was once the alphabet of eighty languages from Bulgaria to Mongolia? (p. 163)My only complaint is that it's too packed; I'd like more white space, a blank page or two, a breather!Because of its many insights, multi-culturalism, and beauty, not to mention its low price, this is the perfect holiday gift for everyone.

I got this because I had noticed it had Japanese and Arabic written on the cover and thought it could improve my Japanese and Arabic calligraphy. I was a bit disappointed that, though it was thorough in Arabic, it didn't have any Japanese. The book only reffered to it in the Chinese section. I'm not that deep in Kanji yet so it wouldn't help in any of the other two scripts. Still a great book and quite in depth with all the other languages it provides

This is a fascinating look into the marks of various cultures. I love playing with the various curves ...fascinating. I have to get a print version, the digital keeps skipping out on the images.

This is a simply WONDERFUL book but this seller did not say that it was defaced in three places -- including on the cover -- by identification that cannot be removed of a previous, library owner. I feel cheated, especially as this was the most expensive copy of this available on your site. Intended as a gift but npw I'm embarrassed. How can I avoid this seller in the future?

I have taught over 200 courses in calligraphy, and when my students asked what calligraphy book I would recommend if they wanted to buy only one, I told them to look at Margaret Shepherd's calligraphy books. She has written many.This one is fun as well as instructional. You can start in any chapter of the book with whatever area of the world you prefer. She has remembered to include Sci-Fi fans!If you have a child as young as 10 years old interested in art and/or history, this would be a good resource to springboard them into the beauty & cultures of the world. Margaret teaches the basics, supplies ample guideline charts, and encourages creativity. I couldn't pass up this one, although I already own dozens of calligraphy books.