Ramon Sarró is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology of Africa at the University of Oxford. His book The Politics of Religious Change on the Upper Guinea Coast: Iconoclasm Done and Undone received the 2010 Amaury Talbot Prize of the Royal Anthropological Institute. His current research, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, focuses on prophetic imagination in Angola.

'A truly fascinating book about a no less fascinating character and his inspired invention of an alphabet! Ramon Sarró explores in original ways the productive tensions between science, art and religion. In doing so, he offers us a brilliant reflection on the very process of human creativity.' Julien Bonhomme, École Normale Supérieure

• List of figures; List of maps; List of Glyphs; Acknowledgments; Part I. Introduction: 1. A writing lesson (in Luanda); Part II. Biography: 2. N'kamba: the road to revelation; 3. Kinshasa: the road to the university; 4. The eagle and the silk-cotton tree: my road with Wabeladio; Part III. Writing, Art, and Kongo Culture: 5. The road to the alphabet: the basics of Mandombe; 6. On the Kongo road writing and entrapping culture; 7. The road to art: the basics of Kimbanbula; 8. A different road: reading Wabeladio's 'Method of Discovery'; Part IV. Discussion: 9. How to make words with bricks: some final thoughts on creativity; Bibliography; Index.

Ramon Sarró is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology of Africa at the University of Oxford. His book The Politics of Religious Change on the Upper Guinea Coast: Iconoclasm Done and Undone received the 2010 Amaury Talbot Prize of the Royal Anthropological Institute. His current research, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, focuses on prophetic imagination in Angola.

'A truly fascinating book about a no less fascinating character and his inspired invention of an alphabet! Ramon Sarró explores in original ways the productive tensions between science, art and religion. In doing so, he offers us a brilliant reflection on the very process of human creativity.' Julien Bonhomme, École Normale Supérieure

• List of figures; List of maps; List of Glyphs; Acknowledgments; Part I. Introduction: 1. A writing lesson (in Luanda); Part II. Biography: 2. N'kamba: the road to revelation; 3. Kinshasa: the road to the university; 4. The eagle and the silk-cotton tree: my road with Wabeladio; Part III. Writing, Art, and Kongo Culture: 5. The road to the alphabet: the basics of Mandombe; 6. On the Kongo road writing and entrapping culture; 7. The road to art: the basics of Kimbanbula; 8. A different road: reading Wabeladio's 'Method of Discovery'; Part IV. Discussion: 9. How to make words with bricks: some final thoughts on creativity; Bibliography; Index.

Ramon Sarró is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology of Africa at the University of Oxford. His book The Politics of Religious Change on the Upper Guinea Coast: Iconoclasm Done and Undone received the 2010 Amaury Talbot Prize of the Royal Anthropological Institute. His current research, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, focuses on prophetic imagination in Angola.

'A truly fascinating book about a no less fascinating character and his inspired invention of an alphabet! Ramon Sarró explores in original ways the productive tensions between science, art and religion. In doing so, he offers us a brilliant reflection on the very process of human creativity.' Julien Bonhomme, École Normale Supérieure

• List of figures; List of maps; List of Glyphs; Acknowledgments; Part I. Introduction: 1. A writing lesson (in Luanda); Part II. Biography: 2. N'kamba: the road to revelation; 3. Kinshasa: the road to the university; 4. The eagle and the silk-cotton tree: my road with Wabeladio; Part III. Writing, Art, and Kongo Culture: 5. The road to the alphabet: the basics of Mandombe; 6. On the Kongo road writing and entrapping culture; 7. The road to art: the basics of Kimbanbula; 8. A different road: reading Wabeladio's 'Method of Discovery'; Part IV. Discussion: 9. How to make words with bricks: some final thoughts on creativity; Bibliography; Index.