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Thoth's Pill - an Animated History of Writing

NativLang · documentary · Watch on YouTube

Language & linguisticsGraphic design & typography

What it is

NativLang's 47-minute animated documentary traces the birth and evolution of writing, from early cave marks to modern scripts. It presents the history of the world's writing systems as a story.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN recommends it as a fun, amazing overview of writing systems whenever the alphabet or cuneiform comes up.

  • 3 people recommended it
  • 3 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2019, last 2023

What HN commenters said

  1. “I also recommend Thoth's Pill, an amazing historical overview of writing systems”

    Animated history of writing with glyphs drawn in real time.

    HocusLocus, 2019-12 · Strong recommendation · in “How writing began, and other unexpectedly funny stories about cuneiform [video]”

  2. “Highly recommend Thoth’s Pill [1] for a fun video on the subject.”

    Fun deep dive including Mesoamerican writing.

    MrsPeaches, 2021-01 · Strong recommendation · in “Who Invented the Alphabet?”

  3. “you will enjoy "Thoth's pill - an Animated history of writing”

    Animated history of writing.

    29athrowaway, 2023-03 · Recommendation · in “Abecedarium”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: writing systems, alphabet, scripts, linguistics, animation

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