Great story. This is the non-technical version, but it is pretty technical. ( )

Fascinating! A brief biography and description of Ventris, a most admirable man; long descriptions of the decipherment process well written for a lay audience, an outline of such inferences regarding Mycenaean economy and culture as may be made from the limited material together with the reflexes of the age detectable in Homer; and a post-script hinting at progress in the succeeding 25 years. Especially interesting for the sketch of the fierceness of academic classics studies in the first half of the 20th c. ( )

Interesting! I knew, vaguely, that someone had figured out how to read the clay tablets found in various areas of Greece and vicinity. This book gives the details. Honestly, it seems to have been as much luck as anything else - why did they assign those particular syllables to those signs, which when combined (and read very carefully) make words that sound like Greek? That aside, the complex process of tying symbols to meanings to syllables is fascinating, if a bit beyond me. The discussion of linguists around the world working on aspects of this (these) question(s) is interesting in itself, as well. Definitely worth reading, though I doubt I'll reread. ( )

Mycenean script shown to be Greek

Slightly dry, but thorough, account of how the "Linear B" language of ancient Crete (and certain parts of nearby Greece proper) was decoded by a part-time linguist, in conjunction with a professor of linguistics. Even though the book is supposedly pitched at a "popular" audience, according to the first chapter, it does get very technical toward the later third of the book, as the author describes the particular methods used to break into the language. David Kahn's account in "The Codebreakers" is somewhat easier to digest, though Kahn had the advantage of writing a decade later. For specialists only, in my view, or those keen on Greek language or history. ( )