# Recommend a book on linguistics/language history **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894 "2013-09-03T15:48:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ad\_Astra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Ad\_Astra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Astra)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/1 "2013-09-03T15:48:00Z")
I’m currently looking for a few (or many) books on linguistics, the history of language, and the like. Titles along the lines of “The Mother Tongue” by Bill Bryson, though preferably with fewer errors - entry-level/dilettante-type titles, rather than dense scholarly tomes. This is all assuming that there are more out there other than the aforementioned Bryson book. I’d imagine there are, but what do I know? After all, that’s why I’m asking youse guys. Thanks in advance for any suggestions! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/2 "2013-09-03T15:50:12Z")
_The Story of English_ is old, was the companion to a PBS mini-series, and has failings, but is still an excellent introduction. ---
**Author:** ![bufftabby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bufftabby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bufftabby)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/3 "2013-09-03T15:50:47Z")
Steven Pinker’s _The Language Instinct_ is nicely informative. ---
**Author:** ![Ad\_Astra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Ad\_Astra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Astra)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/4 "2013-09-03T17:14:58Z")
Thank you both! Both of those titles look quite interesting. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/5 "2013-09-03T17:26:19Z")
Browse through _Language, Though, and Reality_ by Benjamin Worf. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/6 "2013-09-03T17:47:15Z")
Board members may call me a sadist for recommending this, but I found Andrew Radford’s books very approachable. They’re about syntax, but one or two are specifically for English and give you a lot to think about. I also enjoyed Gussenhoven & Jacobs’ _Understanding Phonology_. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/7 "2013-09-03T18:40:50Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > _The Story of English_ is old, was the companion to a PBS mini-series, and has failings, but is still an excellent introduction. A wonderful book with or without the companion video. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/8 "2013-09-03T18:43:16Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > A wonderful book with or without the companion video. _I_ concur fully, but some people automatically poo-poo companion books. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/9 "2013-09-03T19:19:56Z")
I highly recommend [The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind’s Greatest Invention by Guy Deutscher](http://www.amazon.com/Unfolding-Language-Evolutionary-Mankinds-Invention/dp/0805080120/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378235888&sr=1-2). It gets referenced a lot in linguistics and language threads, and for good reason. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/10 "2013-09-03T19:22:21Z")
How about John McWhorter’s lecture series [The Story of Human Language](http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1600) from The Teaching Company? McWhorter’s a wonderful lecturer. Plus, the course guidebook includes a bibliography with suggestions for further reading. (Teaching Company courses can be a bit expensive, but you could see if your library it, find a used copy someplace like [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com), or download it from [Audible.com](http://Audible.com) if you’re a member there.) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/11 "2013-09-03T19:23:10Z")
I second The Language Instinct, along with several of Pinker’s other books: -The Stuff of Thought examines commonalities among languages in several areas, including profanity, innuendo, and mapping of physical space, and uses these commonalities to explore what they tell us about human nature. -Words and Rules looks at one ridiculously specific aspect of language–irregular past tense verbs–and through this example advances an argument about the acquisition of language by children. He doesn’t do a lot with linguistic history, but it does figure into his books, and it’s very interesting stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Ad\_Astra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Ad\_Astra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ad_Astra)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/12 "2013-09-03T20:18:14Z")
Again, thanks all! All of these recs look excellent! And **Thudlow Boink** , my wallet is not thanking you for the series recommendation - I went to Audible and ended up wish-listing about half of the Great Courses collections. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/13 "2013-09-03T20:32:38Z")
Pinker is a great writer, able to convey complicated ideas to us laymen. I should probably get a copy of The Language Instinct. To me, one of the most fascinating aspects of linguistics regards paleolinguistics and the light it can shed on archeology. (I think I got this from Jared Diamond.) For example, if we find archeological evidence of a technology in two child cultures of the same parent culture, we can figure out whether the invention of the technology preceded the split or not. If it did, most technical terms will be similar. Of course, it’s never that simple, but that gives us a starting point. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/14 "2013-09-04T10:23:15Z")
I highly recommend _ **Word Play** _ by Peter Farb. It’s fascinating, informative, and funny as hell. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/15 "2013-09-04T11:45:02Z")
The aforementioned John McWhorter’s _The Power of Babel_ is my favorite. I’ve loaned it and given copies away to several friends. Brisk, thought-provoking, and in parts quite funny. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/16 "2013-09-04T11:49:07Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > How about John McWhorter’s lecture series [The Story of Human Language](http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1600) from The Teaching Company? McWhorter’s a wonderful lecturer. Plus, the course guidebook includes a bibliography with suggestions for further reading. > > (Teaching Company courses can be a bit expensive, but you could see if your library it, find a used copy someplace like [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com), or download it from [Audible.com](http://Audible.com) if you’re a member there.) I second this; we got it from our library and listened to it on a long driving trip, and it was fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/17 "2013-09-04T16:57:49Z")
You might find ‘Language Made Plain’ and ‘A Mouthful of Air’ by Anthony Burgess of interest. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/18 "2013-09-04T18:29:51Z")
Elizabeth W barber writes books on textiles and is a linguist as well. Her book on Women’s work has an appendi on language that was quite interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Ella\_Megalast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9d8465/32.png) [@Ella\_Megalast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ella_Megalast)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/19 "2013-09-04T21:23:35Z")
by Simon Winchester. This came to my mind when I read your query. > **[The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the...](https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Madman-Insanity-English-Dictionary/dp/0062564617)** > > The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary \[Simon Winchester\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making... from Amazon: The Professor and the Madman, masterfully researched and eloquently written, is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary – and literary history. The compilation of the OED began in 1857, it was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand. When the committee insisted on honoring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894/20 "2013-09-04T22:37:43Z")
I quite enjoyed McWhorter’s _Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue._ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-book-on-linguistics-language-history/667894.md?page=2)