Book Review- The Missing Ink by Philip Hensher

The reason why I picked up this book is because I liked the idea of someone writing about writing by hand, using ink. Which it does, mostly engagingly, though there are a couple of chapters that seemed long, and so it took longer than normal for me to finish it. It does get into pens and quills too,and how the italics and other variants of typefaces came about, with anecdotes about 'societies' and other hardcore admirers of each.

But I have a couple of passages about analysing people's handwriting from a chapter called 'Reading Your Mind' that I found hilarious, and that I will quote-

People who don't close up their lower-case g's are very bad at keeping secrets.

People whose writing doesn't have much in the way of ascenders or descenders- stubby f's and y's which just gesture downwards deadly- don't have much of a sex life.

Anyone who writes a circle or a heart over their i's is a moron.

If you ever come across anyone who signs their name and then runs a line through it, run a
mile. Years of therapy await (him/her).

If the crossbar of the t doesn't touch the vertical part, he is an impatient person. Hire them. They get stuff done.

People who underline their signature are convinced of their significance in the world.

I like the last one, coz I do. Underline, I mean.