This exploration of the versatility of writing systems highlights their complexity when used for more than one language. The approaches of authors from different academic traditions provide a varied and expert account.

Alex de Voogt, Ph.D. (1995) in Psychology, Leiden University, is an Assistant Curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. His studies on writing systems and the dispersal of board games focus on the Indian Ocean region.
Joachim Friedrich Quack, Ph.D. (1993) in Egyptology, University of Tübingen, Habilitation (2003) in Egyptology, Free University of Berlin, is Professor of Egyptology at Heidelberg University. He is a leading specialist for Egyptian cursive writing systems.

Contributors include Hans-Jörg Döhla, Theo Krispijn, Reinhard Lehmann, Sven Osterkamp, Konstantin Pozdniakov, Joachim Friedrich Quack, Ingo Strauch, Aldo Tollini, Thorsten Traulsen and Alex de Voogt.