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krobart's review against another edition
2.0
Finally, although the TV series was probably very good, the book’s roots in television show too clearly in the shallowness of the approach. Some chapters, for example, are almost nothing but lists of words with a few paragraphs in between. Overall, although I learned a few interesting facts, I was disappointed.
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/the-adventure-of-english/
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/the-adventure-of-english/
catrink's review against another edition
5.0
This is a most delightful and engaging book, certainly far more than I expected. Adding to the pleasure was the narrator of this work commute "read" of mine. He isn't phased by any of the dialects from any language that is represented in the text.
The author follows the development of what would eventually become English from the migration of those first Frisian fishermen and traders that left home, through all of the sociopolitical changes and challenges in the future British Isles that had such an impact of both the developing languages and people. There is an interesting discussion on what happened to the English language that would become "American English" once migration started for the shores of the New World. The author also presents samples of words that entered the English language (both Old and New World versions) though a wide range of sources.
There are also chapters that examine the spread of English to many parts of the world via colonization and trade. The author doesn't shy away on how this changed existing languages and dialects and briefly examines how some languages and dialects.once thought dead are seeing signs of new life AND also creating new versions of English that may settle into.something far different. The English of England did not walk away from this unchanged, and American English entered the fray as welland is ongoing.
If you like languages, socio-political geography, or simply a romp through history from a different perspective, your time can be spent in far worse ways than to read or listen to this book. Because of the narrator's gift with language I highly recommend the audio version if that's an option. Enjoy!
The author follows the development of what would eventually become English from the migration of those first Frisian fishermen and traders that left home, through all of the sociopolitical changes and challenges in the future British Isles that had such an impact of both the developing languages and people. There is an interesting discussion on what happened to the English language that would become "American English" once migration started for the shores of the New World. The author also presents samples of words that entered the English language (both Old and New World versions) though a wide range of sources.
There are also chapters that examine the spread of English to many parts of the world via colonization and trade. The author doesn't shy away on how this changed existing languages and dialects and briefly examines how some languages and dialects.once thought dead are seeing signs of new life AND also creating new versions of English that may settle into.something far different. The English of England did not walk away from this unchanged, and American English entered the fray as welland is ongoing.
If you like languages, socio-political geography, or simply a romp through history from a different perspective, your time can be spent in far worse ways than to read or listen to this book. Because of the narrator's gift with language I highly recommend the audio version if that's an option. Enjoy!
ivanssister's review against another edition
2.0
This was an interesting topic in theory, but not in execution. Apparently it's based on a TV mini-series, which probably would have been more compelling.
chicagobob's review against another edition
3.0
This is a pretty good history of the English language, written from the point of view of a speaker of British English (or as the book puts it "English English") though it pays a great deal of attention to American English and a fair amount of attention to other Englishes in the part of the book covering the past couple of centuries.
I enjoyed it, but thought that what was there could have been a tad shorter, and that we were missing a good long chapter about the Great Vowel Shift, which was just alluded to. After spending a lot of time on Chaucer and the English of that day, I would have liked to hear more about why I can't understand his writing, whereas I can understand Shakespeare's writing from not that much later.
I enjoyed it, but thought that what was there could have been a tad shorter, and that we were missing a good long chapter about the Great Vowel Shift, which was just alluded to. After spending a lot of time on Chaucer and the English of that day, I would have liked to hear more about why I can't understand his writing, whereas I can understand Shakespeare's writing from not that much later.
kayedacus's review against another edition
5.0
This is the perfect book for those unfamiliar with the History of the English Language as well as for word nerds like me for whom that was a favorite undergraduate course. Not only is it well-researched, well-written, and full of info and humor, narrator Robert Powell is fabulous (I mean, he is Jesus, after all!). Highly recommended!
First reading started March 2012
Second reading finished August 14, 2014
Third reading finished December 30, 2015
Fourth reading finished January 28, 2019
Fifth reading started October 29, 2023
First reading started March 2012
Second reading finished August 14, 2014
Third reading finished December 30, 2015
Fourth reading finished January 28, 2019
Fifth reading started October 29, 2023
cartophilus's review against another edition
3.0
This book presents a brief and interesting overview of the history of the English language in a fairly readable fashion. On the whole it is a good introduction, as long as you take certain things with a grain of salt. I think that the lists of words and examples on the whole were useful to understand the story. However, some of the examples given were either dubious etymologies (e.g. citing Joseph McCoy as the definitive inspiration for "the real McCoy") or were simply popular folk etymologies that have no factual basis (e.g. "tips" emanating from "to insure prompt service"). While not absolutely fatal, these sorts of errors made the book less credible. The other problem and the reason that I can only give it three stars is the author's excessive anthropomorphization of the English language, which ended up downplaying some of the more fascinating historical reasons for the emergence of the English language and entirely ignored the linguistic explanations for some of the more strange behaviors of English.