A
- David Crystal: https://www.davidcrystal.com/GBR/David-Crystal
B
- For more on the loss of manual and digital skills to digitization, see “Digitization And Fingerwork,” a lecture delivered by Tim Ingold on 5th May 2025 at the Old Divinity School, St John’s College, Cambridge.
D
- Callijatra: https://www.facebook.com/callijatra/
- Polikoff quoted in https://patch.com/us/across-america/22-states-are-reviving-cursive-kids-cant-read-grandmas-card
- Recommended reading on the history of western calligraphy: The Golden Thread by Ewan Clayton
- Chicago Calligraphy Collective: https://www.chicagocalligraphy.org/
E
- Leading-edge research: this is like the Lost City of Z, in that several reliable researchers have seen and shared the source, but now none of us can find it. Tant pis.
- For National Curriculum standards, see, for example, https://nha-handwriting.org.uk/handwriting/help-for-teachers/handwriting-in-the-national-curriculum-key-stages-1-and-2/.
- French exemplar courtesy of Iris Auda.
- Chinese government Notice: https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202410/29/content_WS67204decc6d0868f4e8ec64c.html
- “Handwriting has become the new cool in South Korea,” Straits Times.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/how-handwriting-has-become-the-new-cool-in-south-korea - States that require cursive to be taught: https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/the-number-of-states-that-require-schools-to-teach-cursive-is-growing/2024/11
F
- The Psychology of Written Composition by Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-psychology-of-written-composition-Bereiter-Scardamalia/f67977ea6e42e018e5c5fcbdafb8c917dd97a747
- “Writing is never easy,” from “The Work of Writing: Raiding the Inarticulate” by
David Galbraith and Veerle M. Baaijen, Educational Psychologist, 0(0), 1–20, 2018 - From a study in Frontiers of Psychology, 2024, cited in a 2024 Scientific American article by Charlotte Hu: “Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning,” February 21, 2024
- “The Neuroscience Behind Writing: Handwriting vs. Typing—Who Wins the Battle?” Marano, G.; Kotzalidis, G.D.; Lisci, F.M.; Anesini, M.B.; Rossi, S.; Barbonetti, S.; Cangini, A.; Ronsisvalle, A.; Artuso, L.; Falsini, C.; et al. https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/3/345
- “Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning” by Jonathan Lambert, May 11, 2024,
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain - Handwriting vs typing: is the pen still mightier than the keyboard?” by Anne Chemin, The Guardian, Tue 16 Dec 2014: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/16/cognitive-benefits-handwriting-decline-typing
- “Handwriting Shows Unexpected Benefits Over Typing” by Denis Storey, Psychiatrist.com, January 30, 2024, https://www.psychiatrist.com/news/handwriting-shows-unexpected-benefits-over-typing/
- “Advantage of Handwriting Over Typing on Learning Words: Evidence From an N400 Event-Related Potential Index,” by Aya S Ihara, Kae Nakajima, Akiyuki Kake, Kizuku Ishimaru, Kiyoyuki Osugi, Yasushi Naruse in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, National Library of Medicine, June 10, 2021
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8222525/ - https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-thinking-benefits-of-doodling-2016121510844
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/go-ahead-write-in-the-margins-its-good-for-your-brain/
- The Musalman: Preservation of a Dream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUmdx2YHGcA
See also
- https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-last-calligrapher-of-old-delhi-preserves-a-dying-art/
- King’s College Choir, Cambridge, Nine Lessons and Carols 1992, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNg6Nv1Ey8Y&t=1218s
- The Pakistani-American poet Shadab Zeest Hashmi quoted in https://medium.com/@eteraz/the-death-of-the-urdu-script-9ce935435d90
G
- Yoseka: https://yosekastationery.com/
H
- Alice Mazzilli: https://alicemazzilli.co.uk/. See also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmSKAT1jrIE&t=532s
- “Leaves of Palm: Balinese Lontar,” by Raechelle Rubinstein in Illuminations: Manuscript Traditions of Indonesia, by Ann Kumar and John McGlynn, Weatherhill (1996). The most beautiful book I own, and perhaps the best book to introduce non-Latin writing traditions.
- Putu Eka Guna Yasa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut78PudcTEA
- Ritualized Writing: Buddhist Practice and Scriptural Cultures in Ancient Japan, by Bryan D. Lowe, University of Hawaii (2017)
- The Disappearance of Rituals by Byung-Chul Han, Polity (2020)
- https://oaklandlibrary.org/blogs/post/gertrude-stein-on-oakland/
I
- Slow Food Movement: https://www.slowfood.com/
- Helen Magowan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTeuDCuxkio
- Japanese Gallery: https://japanesegallery.com/
- Chinese government edict on calligraphy: see above.
J
- For more on the This Is Not Writing theme, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33b2EckuURc&t=12s
K
- Chiara Cox video: “Mangyan Ambahan: Wisdom for our Filipino Soul,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mba7dcUvL9s
- Mangyan Heritage Center: https://mangyanheritage.odoo.com/
M
Some sources for Pompeii and graffiti:
- Epigraphic Database Roma: http://www.edr-edr.it/edr_programmi/view_img.php?lang=en&id_nr=149140
- The Ancient Graffiti Project: https://ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/
- “Die Stadt als beschriebener Raum: Die Beispiele Pompeji und Herculaneum” by Fanny Opdenhoff
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110722758/html - Manifest in Words, Written on Paper: Producing and Circulating Poetry in Tang Dynasty China, by Christopher M. B. Nugent, Harvard University Asia Center (2011)
LAMY pens
- https://www.lamy.com/en-us/writing-tools/fountain-pens
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness
- Kristian Kabuay: https://www.kabuay.com/
- Apo Whang-od: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xD1WA0YVUE
N
- Lake Champlain Transportation: Ferries.com
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43997/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-text-of-1834
- The Missing Ink by Philip Hensher
- “The Brain Science of Elusive ‘Aha! Moments,’” By John Kounios & Yvette Kounios, Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-elusive-brain-science-of-aha-moments/
- Writing with Pleasure, Helen Sword, Princeton University Press (2023)
O
- Erdenesiin Khuree Calligraphy Center: https://www.erdenesiin-khuree.com/
- Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center: www.smhric.org
P
- National Archives Museum: https://visit.archives.gov
- “Can you read cursive? It’s a superpower the National Archives is looking for,” by Elizabeth Weise, USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/01/12/national-archives-needs-citizen-archivists-cursive/77493951007/
Q
- “Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning” by Jonathan Lambert, NPR, May 11, 2024,
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain - Tim Ingold, op. cit.
- “Writing as an extended cognitive system,” Karenleigh A. Overmann in Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-023-09955-6
- “Study: Seeing Red, Blue Affects Outcome of Tasks”: https://www.npr.org/2009/02/06/100301582/study-seeing-red-blue-affects-outcome-of-tasks
- “Brain implants turn imagined handwriting into text on a screen,” May 12, 2021 issue of Nature: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-implants-translate-handwriting-text
- Bereiter and Scardamalia, op. cit.
R
- The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper, by Roland Allen, Biblioasis (2024)
- Pantographia, Containing Accurate Copies of All the Known Alphabets of the World, Together with an English Explanation of the Peculiar Force of Each Letter (1799) by Edmund Fry, Wentworth Press (2016)
- Feynman interview quoted in Andy Matuschak, https://andymatuschak.org/
- “Diary-keeping as a sex-role behavior,” Charles P. Thompson, Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 1982, Vol. 20(1), 11-13, https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.3758/BF03334787.pdf
- The Early Diary of Anais Nin 1923-1927, Mariner (1985) March 20, 1925
- “Efficacy of journaling in the management of mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis” by Monika Sohal, Pavneet Singh, Bhupinder Singh Dhillon, Harbir Singh Gill, Family Medicine and Community Health,
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8935176/ - “The Neuroscience of Journaling and Its Benefits,” by Magda Tabac, Medium. https://medium.com/clear-yo-mind/the-neuroscience-of-journaling-and-its-benefits-a91218773159
- “A new reason for keeping a diary” by Siri Carpenter, American Psychological Association, September 2001, Vol 32, No. 8, https://www.apa.org/monitor/sep01/keepdiary
- “Positive Affect Journaling in the Improvement of Mental Distress and Well-Being in General Medical Patients With Elevated Anxiety Symptoms: A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial”, Joshua M Smyth, Jillian A Johnson, Brandon J Auer, Erik Lehman, Giampaolo Talamo, Christopher N Sciamanna. JMIR Mental Health 2018. 10.2196/11290.
- Klein, K., & Boals, A. (2001). Expressive writing can increase working memory capacity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130(3), 520–533. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.520
- Pennebaker, J. W., Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., & Glaser, R. (1988). Disclosure of traumas and immune function: Health implications for psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56(2), 239–245. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.56.2.239
- Petrie, Keith J. PhD; Fontanilla, Iris MSc; Thomas, Mark G. MD; Booth, Roger J. PhD; Pennebaker, James W. PhD. Effect of Written Emotional Expression on Immune Function in Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection: A Randomized Trial. Psychosomatic Medicine 66(2):p 272-275, March 2004. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.psy.0000116782.49850.d3
- J M Smyth , A A Stone, A Hurewitz, A Kaell. Effects of writing about stressful experiences on symptom reduction in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized trial. JAMA 1999 Apr 14;281(14):1304-9. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.281.14.1304
- Frattaroli, E. (2006). Experimental disclosure and its moderators: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(6), 823–865. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.6.823
- Smyth, J. M. (1998). Written emotional expression: Effect sizes, outcome types, and moderating variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66(1), 174–184. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.66.1.174
- Koschwanez et al. (2013). Expressive writing and wound healing in older adults. Psychosomatic Medicine, 75(6), 581–590. https://doi.org/ 10.1097/PSY.0b013e31829b7b2e
- “Bad Self-Portraits,” Lake Street Dive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRrjDhQLw9s
S
- “The long and ‘joyous’ road to revive Nepal’s ancient taboo scripts” by Ridhi Agrawal, Al Jazeera, 6 Jul 2024
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Frost at Midnight”, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43986/frost-at-midnight
- William Wordsworth, “The Prelude”, https://metaphors.iath.virginia.edu/metaphors/16743. Alert readers will realize I’ve misremembered Wordsworth’s lines. I prefer my version.
T
- https://www.404media.co/microsoft-study-finds-ai-makes-human-cognition-atrophied-and-unprepared-3/
- “A Robot that can Copy your Handwriting.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRMivCaUymU
- “Kerala engineering student invents AI machine to write homework”
https://www.deccanherald.com/india/kerala/watch-kerala-engineering-student-invents-ai-machine-to-write-homework-3117101
U
- Marion Richardson, Writing and Writing Patterns, University of London Press, 1935. https://www.intellectbooks.com/marion-richardson
- https://www.thepencompany.com/blog/handwriting/what-are-the-12-characteristics-of-handwriting/
- “Promoting Handwriting Fluency for Preschool and Elementary-Age Students: Meta-Analysis and Meta-Synthesis of Research From 2000 to 2020” by López-Escribano, C., Martín-Babarro, J., Pérez-López, R. (2022). Frontiers in Psychology, 25 May 2022. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.841573/full
V
- The John Stevens Shop. https://www.johnstevensshop.com/
W
- Guitar: An American Life, Tim Brookes, Grove Atlantic (2005). https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-American-Life-Tim-Brookes/dp/0802142583
