Reviews

Just a Phrase I'm Going Through: My Life in Language by David Crystal

dmturner's review against another edition

4.0

I picked this book up in a used bookstore, confident I would enjoy it as much as several other books I have read by David Crystal (including the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, a superb explanation of linguistics). Reading this memoir about his life as a linguist, I realized why I had run across so many of his books. It’s a matter of probability. He has written many, many unusual and original books for a mass audience (and many others for academics about language and linguistics). He seems to have a knack for finding that no book exists on a specific subject, and a further knack for writing that book.

The book is chatty and heavy on names of individuals and organizations, and at times I felt I was standing under a prolix waterfall of words. It is also most definitely not a book about the underlying concepts of linguistics. But I found it highly readable nonetheless.

It was published in 2009 but Crystal as of this writing is still around, aged 80, and of course has a Twitter account (@davcr) and a new book out soon.

apatrick's review against another edition

3.0

I came across this memoir from one of my favorite linguists and had to give it a try. It pushed me into trying to learn some Welsh, reading quite a lot of English history, and reopening my Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, edited by the same guy. Six months later, I finished the memoir! So, though not a page-turner, a worthwhile read. I'm still working my way through the CEEL, which is excellently laid out in easily digested two-page spreads. I could probably read it front-to-back, but I'm leisurely flipping through it during weekend lunches.