Hi Jo,

I enjoyed Bill Bryson's book, too. He does a good job of making the history of English accessible to the average reader. He has a witty style and a sense for what his readers will find entertaining. The book was something of a best seller in the US. In response to your claim (your bio) of finding the evolution of English fascinating, I think you would find Charlton Laird's little book, "The Miracle of Language" quite edifying. Laird is a lexicologist of the first order. I believe he studied in Edenburgh for a time. His book introduces the lay reader to the inner workings of language evolution, such as why it happens and in what ways. It demonstrates that although the process is usually imperceptibly slow, it is nonetheless inexorable. Laird incorporates many examples taken from his own research into English development and carefully leads the reader to a deep understanding of the processes at work. In spite of the somewhat difficult nature of the subject, he never loses sight of his reader. Laird’s style is a bit more scholarly than Bryson’s but he brings a sense of humor to the work, and has a gift for making his subject quite interesting.

Beware of other books with the same title. Laird’s “Miracle of Language” is, I believe, no longer in print, but it sold very well for some years, and so should be readily available for a few quid through http://abebooks.com, the best on-line source for used books. Most libraries should have it, although this book was published in the States and may not have found as warm a reception in the UK. Why this should be, I’m not sure, as the book is not biased toward American English.

In response to your bio, I tried to send you a personal note, but AWAD system reports that you are not accepting private messages. I guess you are too busy keeping up with email in your job. I have this problem too, but I always try to respond to personal email dealing with linguistics and lexicology. So far, I have not received many private missives, so it has not been a problem at all. At any rate, I can always turn off private messages later, if I find it too distracting.