Good, but the title and subtitle are misleading because although a substantial part of the book is devoted to the nominal subject of the deciphering of Old Persian and Akkadian, a majority is on the archaeological work that made it possible. (Also, the subtitle refers to "the world's oldest writing," but in the body of the book it's made clear that it's only the script itself which is oldest but the language for which it was first used was Sumerian, which receives only paying discussion.)