Orality and Literacy

Walter J. Ong's study looks at how the invention of writing changed thought, personality and social structure as cultures moved from primary orality to literacy. Surveying several decades of research, his own and other scholars', on the differences between oral and literate cultures, Ong traces what writing, printing and electronic media did to social life and to philosophy, theology, science and literature. He examines oral genres across the world and through history, and how abstract thought in philosophy and science arose. He also considers what orality-literacy studies mean for literary criticism and theory, and for how we understand being human and aware of oneself and others.

Patrick Collison has listed it on his Bookshelf page.