Clanchy, C.T., From Memory to Written Record: England 1066-1307. London: Blackwells, 1992
Goody, Jack, The Logic of Writing and the Organization of Society. Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Swedlow, Joel L. (1999) 'The Power of Writing.' National Geographic Magazine 196/8 (August, 1999): 110-133. The text of this article is available at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/9908/fngm/index.html but the actual magazine article is best as it has many wonderful illustrations.
Pope, Maurice, The Story of Decipherment: From Egyptian Hieroglyphs to Maya Script. London: Thames and Hudson, 1999
Shlain, Leonard, The Alphabet Versus the Goddess:
The Conflict Between Word and Image. London: Penguin Books, 1999.
Millard, Alan R., Reading and Writing in the Time
of Jesus. Sheffield Academic Press, 2001.