People can be interested in language, writing and scripts. They may wonder how, when and where did writing evolve? Do alphabets function better than hieroglyphs? And are we today, in the computer age, moving towards a "universal language" of signs and symbols? This text aims to demystify writing for the general reader. It explains the interconnection between sound, symbol and script for each of the major writing systems in turn, and discovers and deciphers writing forms from cuneiform and Egyptian and Maya hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan today. Throughout, the reader is guided by step-by-step graphic analysis of the way each script works, with illustrated examples.