The Missing Ink: How Handwriting Made Us Who We are - Softcover

Philip Hensher is a columnist for The Independent, an arts critic for The Spectator, and one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. He has written one collection of short stories and eight novels, including The Mulberry Empire, King of the Badgers, and The Northern Clemency, which was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. He lives in South London and Geneva.

“Rediscover the joys of writing . . . Like a charming dinner guest, [Hensher] brims with fun facts, good humor and amusing reminiscences . . . [He] enlivens his musings about penmanship's demise with sharp insights and wry wit.” ―Abigail Meisel, The New York Times Book Review

“An ode to a dying form: part lament, part obituary, part sentimental rallying cry . . . Eloquent . . . There remains something wonderful about receiving a letter that has been physically touched--actually crafted--by the hands of your correspondent.” ―Julia Turner, Slate

“Lively.” ―Gregory Leon Miller, San Francisco Chronicle

“We all communicate, of course (tweet tweet tweet, and yack yack yack on the mobile), but not by pen and ink. Does it matter? I didn't have to read 274 pages to be persuaded that it does, but I am very glad indeed that those pages were written and that I have read them. From this book, the wisest and wittiest argument imaginable for the preservation of handwriting, I have learnt so much, and by it have been so happily entertained, that I am compelled to recommend it to everyone.” ―Diana Athill, The Literary Review