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.

More satire than history

Once I realized that the book is typical Bryson humor, I settled down to enjoy it. I had expected this to be a cheerful form of the History of the English Language, the sort of book like the Great Courses audiobooks by the Wheaton college professor, or one of the more academic books offered on audible, which are strictly accurate and still interesting. Bryson's book is more fun than accurate. Once I settled down and stopped trying to reconcile the things in this book presented as facts in with information in the more academic books I began to enjoy Bryson's book.

Its good to know this book is for humor, not so much for information.

I did not realize this was written in 1990

Audible states that the release date is 2015, but the book was released in 1990. As such it seems out of date, leaving out all the internet and tech slang that has been integrated into our dictionaries.
I think the narrator does a great job of enunciating accents and word differences as mentioned by the author, but you can tell there are spots of Bryson humor or timing that the narrator does not pick up. I would rather have listened to the author narrate, even if his pronunciation was not as good.

Language is More Fashion than Science

The Mother Tongue, by Bill Bryson. The book may be summed up by one of Mr. Bryson’s statements in the book, “[l]anguage is more fashion than science.” That is the bottom line, or the more ethereal learning from the book. Don’t get me wrong; this book is scientifically written meaning it takes data accumulates it and proposes a point concerning language and its maturation over the centuries. It then compares its findings to the observable and proves its conjectures as apparent from the observable. Now, if that all sounds dull, well it could be but for the fact this is written by Bill Bryson. Thus, what would have been leaden, is in fact, a most titillating and intriguing journey through etymology. A great read or if you prefer a stupendous listen to.

What is actually in the context of this novel? The history of English linguistic form studied by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence (about 700 A.D.) and then tracing its transmission, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages and reaching thoughtful conclusions about just why we talk in the manner which we do. Mr. Bryson makes this not only a learning experience but lots of fun!

The peculiarities of language are very very interesting. If you have an awareness or even a curiosity of words (for example do you like to read Shakespeare?) this book is for you.

Very good, but we need a Reboot!!

I would like to see a revision including social media as a major influence in the unifying of language.

A good education

Bill's story brings his deep subject matter research into a digestible form. It provides great insights into many aspects of our language structure and its evolution. The most challenging area for its audible presentation is that many words are spelled out to help us understand their discrete differences. Too many of those in sequence are difficult to absorb. Overall a great work.