The Mother Tongue

English and How It Got That Way

By: Bill Bryson

Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin

With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson—the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent—brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.

entertaining but

The narrator is OK. Rather monotone, but OK.
This title was OK until about Chapter 5 when variant pronunciations were SPELLED out. List after list.

Just not a book to be listened to

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I think that this would be a great book to read, if you are into the root and meaning of words in the English language, however, in listening to it, you don't get the time to pause and reflect on how you read/speak/hear the words. Also, there are countless times when a word will be spelled out (in English and other languages), and these examples cannot be fully digested audibly.

What does Stephen McLaughlin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Obviously the reader, through research and practice, is able to pronounce difficult words in arcane and foreign languages that I would merely stumble through.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No. There's no plot.

Out of date, some tedious spelling

Some of the chapters have too much spelling of words to be pleasant to listen to. I prefer John McWhorter’s books on English. I had hoped for more charming stories of English vs. American usage, but there wasn’t enough, and I was already familiar with a lot of the points he made.

Probably should have gotten the ebook

English is not my first language. And listening to this book I realized spelling may not be my forte. If its a similar struggle for you, you may enjoy the ebook better.

very interesting!

If you have any interest in language, you need to read this book. fascinating and informative, with a bit of humor too.