Archaic bookkeeping

Discussion questions for Archaic bookkeeping

Bring these to your book club — or discuss them with readers on Readfeed.

1. 1

   How does the revelation that writing was originally invented not to record poetry, literature, or spoken language, but purely for economic administration and bookkeeping, alter your perception of the history of human communication?

2. 2

   In our modern era of digital spreadsheets and automated transactions, how do you personally keep track of your own daily resources, debts, or obligations, and how has that process evolved in your lifetime?

3. 3

   The authors explore how proto-cuneiform emerged from the necessity of managing complex local economies in ancient Babylonia; what does this tell us about the relationship between human social complexity and the tools we invent to manage it?