Lost Languages - Andrew Robinson. Starts with the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs, Mayan hieroglyphs, and "Minoan" Linear B, then goes into detail about many still undeciphered writing systems. Existing examples, what's been studied and tried, the personalities of people involved, etc. Fascinating stuff. One of the few examples of the "Isthmian script" or epi-Olmec script[0] (a precursor to the Mayan writing system) is owned by the Smithsonian Natural History museum, and while I think they usually keep it in storage, it coincidentally was on display this summer and I took a trip to go see it after reading the book.
Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts - Christopher de Hamel. 12 different medieval manuscripts the author goes to visit. Describes their history, where they are now and what it's like to see them, contains many detailed reproductions of pages, etc. Not at all dry; the author writes well and adds bits of humor, while still getting across all the necessary details.
Lost Languages - Andrew Robinson. Starts with the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs, Mayan hieroglyphs, and "Minoan" Linear B, then goes into detail about many still undeciphered writing systems. Existing examples, what's been studied and tried, the personalities of people involved, etc. Fascinating stuff. One of the few examples of the "Isthmian script" or epi-Olmec script[0] (a precursor to the Mayan writing system) is owned by the Smithsonian Natural History museum, and while I think they usually keep it in storage, it coincidentally was on display this summer and I took a trip to go see it after reading the book.
Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts - Christopher de Hamel. 12 different medieval manuscripts the author goes to visit. Describes their history, where they are now and what it's like to see them, contains many detailed reproductions of pages, etc. Not at all dry; the author writes well and adds bits of humor, while still getting across all the necessary details.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isthmian_script