Mother Tongue: The English Language

If you’re looking for a book about the English language that is set to entertain, then The Mother Tongue pulls it off admirably. Bill Bryson has done a fantastic job. Who else could rhapsodise about "the colourless murmur of the schwa" with such a straight face? It is his unfaltering enthusiasm, oozing from between every sentence that conveys this great book.

Bryson displays an encyclopaedic knowledge of his subject, and this inevitably encourages a light tone; the more you know about a subject, the more illogical it becomes. No jokes are necessary, the facts do well enough by themselves, and Bryson supplies plenty on each page. Bryson frequently takes time to compare the idiosyncratic tongue with other languages. Not only does this give the reader ample opportunity to chortle, and always shed considerable light, it also makes the reader feel fortunate to speak English.

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