Written in Stone

A Journey Through the Stone Age and the Origins of Modern Language

By: Christopher Stevens

Narrated by: Michael Healy

Half the world's population speaks a language that has evolved from a single prehistoric mother tongue. First spoken in Stone Age times on the steppes of central Eurasia 6,500 years ago, this mother tongue spread from the shores of the Black Sea across almost all of Europe and much of Asia. It is the genetic basis of everything we speak and write today - the DNA of language.

Written in Stone combines detective work, mythology, ancient history, archaeology, the roots of society, technology and warfare, and the sheer fascination of words to explore that original mother tongue, sketching the connections woven throughout the immense vocabulary of English, with some surprising results. In snappy, lively, and often very funny chapters, Written in Stone uncovers the most influential and important words used by our Neolithic ancestors and shows how they are still in constant use today - the building blocks of all our most common words and phrases.

©2015 Christopher Stevens (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Stevens, an adventurer in language, demonstrates considerable prowess in making the journey both edifying and entertaining." ( Kirkus)

Informative

Well written and enjoyable listen. I liked hearing about how languages change and evolve over time and which sounds change the least.

Plan to listen several times

This was entertaining and eye-opening. I took Latin and know all our Latin and Greek prefixes & suffixes, but realize now how much history went into the development of those languages and others to this day and tomorrow. I appreciate how natural he makes this subject, and now I'm appalled by comparing how we actually teach such a basic human subject as language! Kudos to the narrator! What a difficult book to have read aloud!

a spectacle for the ears

I love etymology, this course is special though, searching for our proto-language closes the gap between tongues and makes learning German, Latin, Spanish, French or even Gaelic much more fun. Didn't help me with my Chinese though 😂

A Historical Tour Through the Dictionary

The book literally begins at A and ends with Z, which I thought was interesting, as were the etymologies and the related human histories.

INCREDIBLY BORING (CONTENT WISE)!!!

The title of this review says it all. I regret purchasing this book and I am going to return it.