Signs of Civilisation

How Punctuation Changed History

By: Bård Borch Michaelsen

Narrated by: David Timson

Punctuation is not only an important part of our language code; an advanced system of punctuation has been a driving force in our entire Western Civilisation. Nothing less.

With the invention of printing, reading books moved from being an act performed only by priests and aristocrats into an individual, even private activity. This change helped spark the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution - in which punctuation played a crucial role. As long as texts were read out loud by only an educated elite there was no need for punctuation to mark pauses, full stops or questions. 

So punctuation - the full stop, the comma, the exclamation mark, the question mark and the semicolon - helped shape modern day Europe as we know it. 

©2019 Bård Borch Michaelsen (P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Fascinating story, passionate author

History of punctuation is something that's I never would've thought to care about, but the author makes you interested in the story he's telling. You can tell that he's passionate about the rules of written language (especially commas), and has done his research very well.