The book by an outstanding modern translator and writer, winner of the Man Booker and Goncourt Prizes, is dedicated to the intricacies of the multifaceted translation activity.

“I tried to cover the whole picture, exploring the role of translation in cultural, social and other spheres of human life. We will travel through time and space, moving from Sumer to Brussels and Beijing, turning to comics and classical literature, delving into the jungle of such diverse disciplines as anthropology, linguistics and computer science. What do translators actually do? How many types of translation are there? What do manifestations of this ability tell us about human societies past and present? What do translations have to do with the use of language in general and with our ideas about language? These are the kinds of questions I address in this book." David Bellos