[Linganth] New book: Reckonings: Numerals, Cognition, and History

[Stephen Chrisomalis]

Dear friends and colleagues,

I'm very pleased to announce that my new book, Reckonings: Numerals, Cognition, and History has just been published by MIT Press. The website for the book is https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/reckonings and the hardback price is $35 US.

Reckonings incorporates semiotic, philological, and cognitive perspectives on numerals and numeracy, treating numbers as communicative and representational practices, rather than principally mathematical objects.  How people choose how and when to write numbers is as much a linguistic and social activity as it is technological or arithmetical.  Understanding why, for instance, we don't use Roman numerals much any longer - and the exceptions when we do - requires that we reckon with what people are really using numerals for in the first place, moving beyond factors such as 'efficiency' to explain why one notation (the Indo-Arabic or Western numerals) is so ubiquitous.

Feel free to email me directly with any media or review requests or any questions. Thanks!

Steve Chrisomalis



Stephen Chrisomalis
Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies

Dept. of Anthropology, Wayne State University
3019 FAB, 656 W. Kirby
Detroit, MI 48202
chrisomalis at wayne.edu
313-577-9922
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