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Rating: 
Summary: Bought a book? Don't think you'll read the glyphs!
Review: The author offers an overall and sometimes confusing summary of glyph readings which circulated over the past ten years, both as published articles and as informal notes. The decipherment of the Maya script has made a real breakthrough in the nineties and Macri's catalog is a good summary of these recent advancements. Its major disadvantage, however, is that it will be of very little value for any beginner. Remember, it is just a sign list, an 'alphabet' of the Maya writing, not a grammar. Unfortunately, no grammar of Classic Maya Choltian has been published so far, largely because of major disagreements between several groups of scholars who offer contrasting reconstructions of this language. What is good about Macri's book:
1. Sign grouping is quite convenient and it is easy to find a specific glyph.
2. The Appendix with its final sign-lists is also very useful What is not so good...
1. The authors seem to be extremely conservative in their understanding of 'signs' in the Maya script. Both 'complex' signs like UCH' and ligatures (conflations when the graphic representation of both signs is affected) are underrepresented. 2. Sometimes, it is hard to understand the politics behind the choice of a particular reading and not all possible alternatives are cited (some people may not be happy with such approach). 3. As all previous catalogs, this one does not make a conscious attempt to grasp the range of graphic variants of each sign (which is sometimes just overwhelming). Instead, it relies on individual examples.
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