text: 'The Interface Between the Written and the Oral' is a comprehensive look at the development of writing in general and alphabets in particular, oral poetry in ancient Greece and Modern Africa, oral transmission of (written) Vedas, the impact of writing on recently oral cultures in West Africa, and the impact of writing on our own abilities of thought and organization. Perhaps the most disheartening, but nonetheless informative section, deals with the counterintuitive measures that social scientists have come up with to measure the impact of literacy. They seem to be lacking in common sense. Goody, however, is full of common sense, and this book is excellent reading
  