Author Sites

ShadyCharacters.co.uk

Keith Houston

Keith Houston is the author of Empire of the Sum, Shady Characters, and The Book. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Mental Floss, and on BBC Culture and Literary Hub. He lives in Linlithgow, Scotland.

Keith Houston

Books by Keith Houston

Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks
Keith Houston
Paperback, 2014
“An absolutely fascinating blend of history, design, sociology, and cultural poetics—highly recommended.”—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time
Keith Houston
Hardback, 2016
We may love books, but do we know what lies behind them?
Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks
Keith Houston
E Book, 2013
“An absolutely fascinating blend of history, design, sociology, and cultural poetics—highly recommended.”—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time
Keith Houston
E Book, 2016
We may love books, but do we know what lies behind them?
Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator
Keith Houston
Hardback, 2023
The hidden history of the pocket calculator—a device that ushered in modern mathematics, helped build the atomic bomb and went with us to the moon—and the mathematicians, designers and inventors...
Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator
Keith Houston
E Book
The hidden history of the pocket calculator—a device that ushered in modern mathematics, helped build the atomic bomb and went with us to the moon—and the mathematicians, designers and inventors...
Face with Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji
Keith Houston
Paperback, 2025
A vibrant exploration of the world's newest language—where it came from, how it works and where it's going
Face with Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji
Keith Houston
E Book
PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

A vibrant exploration of the world’s newest language—where it came from, how it works, and where it’s going.
The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time
Keith Houston
Paperback, 2025
“Everybody who has ever read a book will benefit from the way Keith Houston explores the most powerful object of our time. And everybody who has read it will agree that reports of the book’s death...
Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator
Keith Houston
Paperback, 2025
The hidden history of the pocket calculator—a device that ushered in modern mathematics, helped build the atomic bomb and went with us to the moon—and the mathematicians, designers and inventors...