#35 in History
The Mother Tongue
- 270
- Pages
- about 5 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 1 week on the list, peaked at #7
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About the book
The Mother Tongue is a 1990 book by Bill Bryson which compiles the history and origins of the English language and its various quirks. It is subtitled English And How It Got That Way. The book discusses the Indo-European origins of English, the growing status of English as a global language, the complex etymology of English words, the dialects of English, spelling reform, prescriptive grammar, and other topics including swearing. This account popularises the subject and makes it accessible to the lay reader, but it has been criticised for its many inaccuracies, such as the perpetuation of several urban myths.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.6 across 160 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 52% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the History average of 8.0. That is how 7.8 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.2 | 17 | 11% |
| Hardcover | 7.6 | 143 | 89% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Mother Tongue?
It has 270 pages — shorter than 78% of the ranked books in History.
If you liked this
Same shelf — History — with scores between 7.8 and 8.1, closest to this book.
