Shady Characters

<p><b>Where does the ampersand get its name from? What does the hashtag have to do with commerce in ancient Rome? Keith Houston gives the answers in this delightfully entertaining book.</b><br><br>From the pilcrow ¶ to the ampersand, the entire cast of <i>Shady Characters</i> reflects the changes in written communication through the ages, charting how punctuation has adapted to each new technological innovation. Together, these shady characters form a rich, entertaining and surprising history of the written word and our ongoing attempts to shape it.<br><br>'Engaging typographical journeys . . . Houston brings to life a history of ingenuity and imagination' <i>The Times<br><br></i>'Entertaining, informative, a must-read. If ever a book deserved its hardbacked, reverse-embossed, lavishly illustrated, thick white heavy paper incarnation, and a place on an actual bookshelf, it is <i>Shady Characters'</i> <i>Guardian<br><br></i>'Houston brings considerable wit to the 5,000-year-old enigma of how we attempt to communicate our thoughts through visible signs<i> . . . Shady Characters</i> might make you look at books - in print or online - in an entirely new way' <i>Nature<br><br></i>'Refreshing . . . the stories he uncovers along the way are fascinating' <i>Telegraph<br><br></i><i>'</i>Ventures into the previously untrodden history of punctuation marks . . . scholarly, highly readable' <i>Spectator<br><br></i>Keith Houston is the founder of ShadyCharacters.co.uk, where he writes about the unusual stories behind some well-known - and some rather more outlandish - marks of punctuation.</p>\n\n<p><b>Where does the ampersand get its name from? What does the hashtag have to do with commerce in ancient Rome? Keith Houston gives the answers in this delightfully entertaining book.</b><br><br>From the pilcrow ¶ to the ampersand, the entire cast of <i>Shady Characters</i> reflects the changes in written communication through the ages, charting how punctuation has adapted to each new technological innovation. Together, these shady characters form a rich, entertaining and surprising history of the written word and our ongoing attempts to shape it.<br><br>'Engaging typographical journeys . . . Houston brings to life a history of ingenuity and imagination' <i>The Times<br><br></i>'Entertaining, informative, a must-read. If ever a book deserved its hardbacked, reverse-embossed, lavishly illustrated, thick white heavy paper incarnation, and a place on an actual bookshelf, it is <i>Shady Characters'</i> <i>Guardian<br><br></i>'Houston brings considerable wit to the 5,000-year-old enigma of how we attempt to communicate our thoughts through visible signs<i> . . . Shady Characters</i> might make you look at books - in print or online - in an entirely new way' <i>Nature<br><br></i>'Refreshing . . . the stories he uncovers along the way are fascinating' <i>Telegraph<br><br></i><i>'</i>Ventures into the previously untrodden history of punctuation marks . . . scholarly, highly readable' <i>Spectator<br><br></i>Keith Houston is the founder of ShadyCharacters.co.uk, where he writes about the unusual stories behind some well-known - and some rather more outlandish - marks of punctuation.</p>