The Mother Tongue: English & How it Got That Way

Author: Bill Bryson (The Lost Continent, Shakespeare, A Walk in the Woods)

Length: A hefty 245 pages, but this book isn't the sort that needs to be read all at once.

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Having recently read both Shakespeare and A Walk in the Woods, I thought I'd continue on my Bill Bryson streak and try something else. I've always had an interest in linguistics, and considering I'm about fifteen years behind on this book, it seemed like a good time to pick it up.

Bryson books are always a perfect blend of light-reading entertainment and his classic English-influenced dry humor, with interesting nuggets of information tucked in here and there. After finishing The Mother Tongue, I dazzled my family for weeks with such gems as, "Did you know that there are 50 different words for 'snow' in Eskimo?" I also learned a few choice expletives in Japanese and Norwegian.

The book is equal parts historical study, informational resource, and amusing easy-read. One great additional aspect of The Mother Tongue is that it studies not so much the intricacies of the English language itself (although there is a great deal of that), but English in comparison to other languages of the world -- that is, what sets it apart.

The author, who is American but lived in England for 20 years, is speaking from a very interesting perspective. As a result, we get a large chunk of lecture on the differences between American English, British English, and Australian English, as well as the variance within the British Isles, always peppered with Bryson's dry wit.

Whether you decide to take A Mother Tongue seriously, or tote it in your beach bag as a vacation read, you will not be disappointed. A guilty pleasure for the intelligent person, I highly recommend this book to anyone who speaks English... or doesn't.

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DO READ IF: you consider yourself smart but not pretentious.

DO NOT READ IF: you are looking for a straight-jacketed dissertation on linguistics.