{"title":"Steven Roger Fischer","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"history-of-reading-book-steven-roger-fischer-9781789140682","title":"A History of Reading","description":"A broad, accessible history of reading from antiquity to today, which  also assesses its future.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49573077090577,"sku":"GOR009875200","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49733612011793,"sku":"NGR9781789140682","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50811978776849,"sku":"CIN1789140684G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1789140684.jpg?v=1766140773"},{"product_id":"history-of-language-book-steven-roger-fischer-9781861890801","title":"A History of Language","description":"It is tempting to take the tremendous rate of contemporary linguistic change for granted. What is required, in fact, is a radical reinterpretation of what language is. Steven Roger Fischer begins his book with an examination of the modes of communication used by dolphins, birds and primates as the first contexts in which the concept of 'language' might be applied. As he charts the history of language from the times of Homo erectus, Neanderthal humans and Homo sapiens through to the nineteenth century, when the science of linguistics was developed, Fischer analyses the emergence of language as a science and its development as a written form. He considers the rise of pidgin, creole, jargon and slang, as well as the effects radio and television, propaganda, advertising and the media are having on language today. Looking to the future, he shows how electronic media will continue to reshape and re-invent the ways in which we communicate.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49645406585105,"sku":"GOR004698101","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50932304216337,"sku":"GOR002970490","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53615769256209,"sku":"CIN186189080XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/186189080X.jpg?v=1751281989"},{"product_id":"history-of-reading-book-steven-roger-fischer-9781861892096","title":"A History of Reading","description":"Steven Roger Fischer's fascinating book traces the complete story of reading from the time when symbol first became sign through to the electronic texts of the present day. Describing ancient forms of reading and the various modes that were necessary to read different writing systems and scripts, Fischer turns to Asia and the Americas and discusses the forms and developments of completely divergent dimensions of reading. With the Middle Ages in Europe and the Middle East, innovative re-inventions of reading emerged - silent and liturgical reading; the custom of lectors; reading's focus in general education - whereupon printing transformed society's entire attitude to reading. Fischer charts the explosion of the book trade in this era, its increased audience and radically changed subject-matter; describes the emergence of broadsheets, newspapers and public readings; and traces the effect of new font designs on general legibility. Fischer discusses society's dedication to public literacy in the sweeping educational reforms of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and notes the appearance of free libraries, gender differences in reading matter, public advertising and the 'forbidden' lists of Church, State and the unemancipated. Finally, he assesses the future, in which it is likely that read communication will soon exceed oral communication through the use of the personal computer and the internet, and looks at 'visual language' and modern theories of how reading is processed in the human brain. Asking how the New Reader can reshape reading's future, he suggests a radical new definition of what reading could be.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49653052866833,"sku":"GOR001909855","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49906188681489,"sku":"GOR002875509","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1861892098.jpg?v=1751454097"},{"product_id":"history-of-language-book-steven-roger-fischer-9781780239033","title":"A History of Language","description":"It is tempting to take the tremendous rate of contemporary linguistic change for granted. What is required, in fact, is a radical reinterpretation of what language is. Steven Roger Fischer charts the history of language from the times of Homo erectus, Neanderthal humans and Homo sapiens through to the nineteenth century, when the science of linguistics was developed, as he analyses the emergence of language as a science and its development as a written form. He considers the rise of pidgin, creole, jargon and slang, as well as the effects radio and television, propaganda, advertising and the media are having on language today. Originally published in 1999, this new format edition, which includes a new preface by the author, also shows how digital media will continue to reshape and re-invent the ways in which we communicate.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49734945440017,"sku":"NGR9781780239033","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50000746217745,"sku":"CIN1780239033G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50414511194385,"sku":"GOR010014811","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51546576519441,"sku":"NIN9781780239033","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1780239033.jpg?v=1766141041"},{"product_id":"history-of-writing-book-steven-roger-fischer-9781789143492","title":"A History of Writing","description":"From the earliest scratches on stone and bone to the languages of computers and the internet, A History of Writing offers an investigation into the origin and development of writing throughout the world. Illustrated with numerous examples, this book offers a global overview in a form that everyone can follow. The author also reveals his own discoveries made since the early 1980s, making it a useful reference for both students and specialists as well as the general reader.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49737625075985,"sku":"NGR9781789143492","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50269548249361,"sku":"CIN1789143497VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51197283434769,"sku":"NIN9781789143492","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51727021310225,"sku":"CIN1789143497G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51770854703377,"sku":"GOR012574805","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52940160696593,"sku":"GOR014662112","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1789143497.jpg?v=1766139924"},{"product_id":"island-at-the-end-of-the-world-book-steven-roger-fischer-9781861892829","title":"Island at the End of the World","description":"Famed for its breathtaking isolation, Easter Island was a verdant South-Sea idyll when a small canoeful of Polynesians arrived in c. AD 700. Centuries later the island's statues were famous throughout the world. This book presents a comprehensive history of Easter Island told by a writer who is intimately familiar with the island, its people and their extraordinary story. When voyaging in the South Pacific became far less widespread around 1500, Easter Islanders became stranded on their desert-like isle, and were forced to adapt to survive. The first European visitors, in 1722, encountered a people thriving in total isolation, surrounded by huge architectural platforms of fitted stones topped by hundreds of monolithic busts. Subsequent intruders brought trade, disease, violence, and the Easter Islanders adapted to this change, too, through cultural re-invention: new leaders, new rituals, new gods. Steven Roger Fischer relates the compelling history of this unique region: how wars, smallpox and the Great Death decimated the island, how Catholic missionaries arrived in 1866 to relieve the suffering of the dying people, and how a despotic Frenchman claimed the island for himself, but who was then killed by the remaining islanders a population of only 111. The author also examines the modern history of the island, its colonization and annexation by Chile, and its peaceful but insistent civil rights movement in 1964-65. Today, the population has increased, as has tourism of the island from 2,000 visitors in 1991 to 20,000 in 2001 and continues to be managed by the indigenous Rapanui people. Foreign interest in Easter Island has never been so keen, and this book is a much-needed history of this little-known but remarkable island.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49995135713553,"sku":"NGR9781861892829","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50049002668305,"sku":"GOR004500995","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51835699659025,"sku":"CIN1861892829G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53148335243537,"sku":"GOR012047393","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53616290562321,"sku":"CIN1861892829VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1861892829.jpg?v=1751314048"},{"product_id":"history-of-language-book-steven-roger-fischer-9781861890511","title":"A History of Language","description":"Steven Roger Fischer's fascinating book charts the history of communication from the time before human language was conceived through to the media explosion of the present day. Describing modes of communication between whales, birds, insects and primates and suggesting the first contexts in which the concept of 'language' might be applied, Fischer moves from the early abilities of Homo erectus to the spread of languages worldwide, analyzing the effect of the development of writing along the way. With the founding of the science of linguistics in the nineteenth century, the nature of language first came to be understood; Fischer charts the evolution of linguists' insights and the relationship of language to social change into mid-1900s. Taking into account the rise of pidgin, Creole, jargon and slang, he raises provocative questions about literature's  -  and literacy's  -  relationship to language. Finally, touching on the effects of radio, television, propaganda and advertising, Fischer looks to the future, asking how electronic media are daily reshaping the world's languages and suggesting a radical reinterpretation of what language really is.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50038892396817,"sku":"GOR001971713","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50120757149969,"sku":"CIN1861890516G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50226836439313,"sku":"CIN1861890516A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51334870860049,"sku":"CIN1861890516VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/B002BC1YEG.jpg?v=1751123731"},{"product_id":"history-of-the-pacific-islands-book-steven-roger-fischer-9780230362697","title":"A History of the Pacific Islands","description":"This wide-ranging study of the Pacific Islands provides a dynamic and provocative account of the peopling of the Pacific, and its broad impact on world history. Spanning over 50,000 years of human presence in an area which comprises one-third of our planet – Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia – the narrative follows the development of the region, from New Guinea's earliest settlement to the creation of the modern Pacific states.  Thoroughly revised and updated in light of the most recent scholarship, the second edition includes: • an overview of the events and developments in the Pacific Islands over the last decade • coverage of the latest archaeological discoveries • several new maps • an updated and expanded bibliography  Steven Roger Fischer's unique text provides a highly accessible and invaluable introduction to the history of an area which is currently emerging as pivotal in international affairs. A History of the Pacific Islands traces the human history of nearly one-third of the globe over a fifty-thousand year span. This is history on a grand scale, taking the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia from prehistoric culture to the present day through a skilful interpretation of scholarship in the field. Fischer's familiarity with work in archaeology and anthropology as well as in history enriches the text, making this a book with wide appeal for students and general readers.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50117364121873,"sku":"CIN0230362699G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51611881931025,"sku":"GOR010752272","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52425321775377,"sku":"NLS9780230362697","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53447565017361,"sku":"GOR014925057","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0230362699.jpg?v=1759228909"},{"product_id":"islands-book-steven-roger-fischer-9781780230320","title":"Islands","description":"Our planet hosts over a million islands. From Britain to Japan, Mauritius to Manhattan, they are small living geological, biological and cultural laboratories. This title reveals how since time began islands have been one of the primary birthplaces for plants, animals and proto-humans.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50149376590097,"sku":"GOR009391602","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50168186831121,"sku":"GOR009322161","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/178023032X.jpg?v=1750832370"},{"product_id":"history-of-reading-book-steven-roger-fischer-9781861891600","title":"A History of Reading","description":"Steven Roger Fischer's book traces the complete story of reading from the time when symbol first became sign through to the electronic texts of the present day. Describing ancient forms of reading and the various modes that were necessary to read different writing systems and scripts, Fischer turns to Asia and the Americas and discusses the forms and developments of completely divergent dimensions of reading. With the Middle Ages in Europe and the Middle East, innovative re-inventions of reading emerged - silent and liturgical reading; the custom of lectors; reading's focus in general education - whereupon printing transformed society's entire attitude to reading. Fischer charts the explosion of the book trade in this era, its increased audience and radically changed subject-matter; describes the emergence of broadsheets, newspapers and public readings; and traces the effect of new font designs on general legibility. Fischer discusses society's dedication to public literacy in the sweeping educational reforms of the 18th and 19th centuries, and notes the appearance of free libraries, gender differences in reading matter, public advertising and the \"forbidden\" lists of Church, State and the unemancipated. Finally, he assesses the future, in which it is likely that read communication will soon exceed oral communication through the use of the personal computer and the internet, and looks at \"visual language\" and modern theories of how reading is processed in the human brain. Asking how the new reader can reshape reading's future, he suggests a radical new definition of what reading could be.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50338011152657,"sku":"GOR005264555","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1861891601.jpg?v=1751435557"},{"product_id":"rongorongo-book-steven-roger-fischer-9780198237105","title":"Rongorongo","description":"Rongorongo, Easter Island's enigmatic script and Oceania's only known pre-twentieth-century writing system, is here comprehensively documented for the first time. The author tells the full history of rongorongo's exciting discovery and the many attempts at a decipherment. Pre-missionary traditions surrounding rongorongo are described from previously unpublished material.   Full transcriptions of all the 25 surviving rongorongo inscriptions are provided, along with detailed photographs of nearly every incised artefact. In over six years of full-time research that took the author from St Petersburg to Easter Island, a wholly new picture of the rongorongo phenomenon has emerged. This book is the definitive study of one of the world's most fascinating and eloquent graphic achievements.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50696947532049,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50696949170449,"sku":"NGR9780198237105","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0198237103.jpg?v=1751164664"},{"product_id":"island-at-the-end-of-the-world-book-steven-roger-fischer-9781861892454","title":"Island at the End of the World","description":"Famed for its breathtaking isolation, Easter Island was a verdant South-Sea idyll when a small canoeful of Polynesians arrived in c. ad 700. Centuries later the island's statues were famous throughout the world. This book presents, for the first time in the English language, the history of Easter Island told by a writer who is intimately familiar with the island, its people and their extraordinary story. When voyaging in the South Pacific became far less widespread around 1500, Easter Islanders became stranded on their desert-like isle, and were forced to adapt to survive. The first European visitors, in 1722, encountered a people thriving in total isolation, surrounded by huge architectural platforms of fitted stones topped by hundreds of monolithic busts. Subsequent intruders brought trade, disease, violence, and the Easter Islanders adapted to this change, too, through cultural re-invention: new leaders, new rituals, new gods. Steven Roger Fischer relates the compelling history of this unique region: how wars, smallpox and the Great Death decimated the island, how Catholic missionaries arrived in 1866 to relieve the suffering of the dying people, and how a despotic Frenchman claimed the island for himself, but was then killed by the remaining islanders - a population then of only 111. The author also examines the modern history of the island, and its colonization and annexation by Chile. He relates the peaceful but insistent civil rights movement in 1964-65 whereby the Rapanui people were granted citizenship and could move freely about their island again for the first time in 70 years. Today, the population has increased, as has tourism of the island - from 2,000 visitors in 1991 to 20,000 in 2001 - which continues to be managed by the Rapanui themselves. Foreign interest in Easter Island has never been so keen, for the majestic archaeological endowments of the island is still one of Earth's most impressive. This book is a much-needed history of this little-known but remarkable island.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50726958366993,"sku":"GOR004861612","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52435649593617,"sku":"CIN1861892454G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1861892454.jpg?v=1750768921"},{"product_id":"oceanic-voices-european-quills-book-steven-roger-fischer-9783050062785","title":"Oceanic Voices - European Quills","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Oceanic Voices - European Quills\" celebrates the linguistic historiography of two Oceanic poles. The northwest Pacific's Chamorro of Guam and the Northern Marianas was the first (16th century), and the southeast Pacific's Rapanui of Easter Island one of the last (19th century) of the Austronesian tongues to inspire linguistic investigation within greater Oceania. These pioneering efforts are honored in nine articles which document, translate, chronicle, describe and analyze the earliest relics from these two island cultures. This collection of articles reveals fundamental insights not only into earlier stages of both Chamorro and Rapanui but also into the very discipline of linguistic historiography in one of Earth's humanly richest and most fascinating regions.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51185769382161,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51185771577617,"sku":"NIN9783050062785","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52424858927377,"sku":"NLS9783050062785","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/3050062789.jpg?v=1750729575"},{"product_id":"history-of-the-pacific-islands-book-steven-roger-fischer-9780230362680","title":"A History of the Pacific Islands","description":"Steven Fischer traces the human history of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia from prehistoric culture to the present day. The second edition has been revised throughout in the light of recent scholarship and brings the story right up-to-date in terms of events and developments. Additional maps also enhance this established text.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52479249613073,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52479250694417,"sku":"NLS9780230362680","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780230362680.jpg?v=1759848400"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-steven-roger-fischer.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}