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Mother Tongue
  • Published: 9 April 2010
  • ISBN: 9780141040080
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $26.99
Categories:

Mother Tongue

The Story of the English Language

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A fresh new look for Bill Bryson's two exceptional classics on the English language

'More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to...'

Only Bill Bryson could make a book about the English language so entertaining. With his boundless enthusiasm and restless eye for the absurd, this is his astonishing tour of English. From its mongrel origins to its status as the world's most-spoken tongue; its apparent simplicity to its deceptive complexity; its vibrant swearing to its uncertain spelling and pronunciation, Bryson covers all this as well as the many curious eccentricities that make it as maddening to learn as it is flexible to use.

Bill Bryson's classic Mother Tongue is a highly readable and hilarious tale of how English came to be the world's language.
  • Published: 9 April 2010
  • ISBN: 9780141040080
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $26.99
Categories:

About the author

Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. His bestselling books include The Road to Little Dribbling, Notes from a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods, One Summer and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. In a national poll, Notes from a Small Island was voted the book that best represents Britain. His acclaimed work of popular science, A Short History of Nearly Everything, won the Aventis Prize and the Descartes Prize, and was the biggest selling non-fiction book of its decade in the UK. His new book The Body: A Guide for Occupants is an extraordinary exploration of the human body which will have you marvelling at the form you occupy. Bill Bryson was Chancellor of Durham University 2005–2011. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society. He lives in England.
portrait photo of Bill Bryson

Also by Bill Bryson

A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0
The Body
Down Under
A Short History of Nearly Everything
A Really Short History of Nearly Everything
Mother Tongue: Popular Penguins
At Home
See all

Praise for Mother Tongue

Not only fascinating but extremely funny

Angus Deayton

The sort of linguistics I like, anecdotal, full of revelations, and with not one dull paragraph

Ruth Rendell, Sunday Times

A gold mine of language-anecdote, information, curiosity. A suprise on every page... enthralling

Observer

Delightful, amusing and provoking... A joyful celebration of our wonderful language, which is packed with curiosities and enlightenment on every page

Sunday Express

A delightful survey - though with its good humour, wealth of anecdote, and boyish enthusiasm, "romp" would be a better word.

David Crystal