The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language – A Witty Linguistics Guide to How Tongues Mix, Mutate, and Evolve

Very entertaining nonfiction author

John McWhorter's THE POWER OF BABEL is certainly one of the most comprehensive -- and one of the most comprehensible -- histories of human language which I have ever encountered. McWhorter has mastered a large number of foreign languages, and has studied and written about all aspects of linguistics, and he brings all of this knowledge to bear upon this masterpiece of linguistics. I enthusiastically recommend this book to all students of linguistics, no matter at what level, as well as to professionals in the field of language. In addition, I recommend this book to anyone, professional or layman, who is curious about how language works and about where human language originated. The book is an absolute bargain, and one of the best buys on amazon.com.

McWhorter's central thesis is that the evolution of language is similar to the evolution of life. Languages, like plants and animals, appear static over short time periods but change dramatically over long ones. From this thesis he draws several conclusions by analogy: that there is no "correct" dialect of a language, that linguistic biodiversity is important, and so on. I accept the evolutionary model of language, but I disagree with many of McWhorter's conclusions. Evolution requires two things to drive it: chance mutations and selective pressure. Chance mutations were frequent in ancient times because communication was largely oral. Writing greatly slowed the rate of mutation, however, and global communication is slowing it further. We no longer live in isolated villages where speciation can take place undisturbed. Selective pressures have changed dramatically as well: I would argue that the most significant selective force operating on written works today is Google. That which is not found is not read, and therefore dies. So how do you make your works more findable? By using standard keywords, standard phrasing, and correct spelling, in English. ...Stylistically, the book's biggest flaw is its repetitiveness. The analogy between linguistic and biological evolution is a good one, but it is also largely self-evident. The author tries too hard to convince, apparently failing to realize that if we're on page 20, we must have accepted the first 19 pages to some degree. The book is full of interesting anecdotes and variously humorous pop-culture references. (There are enough inside jokes about TV sitcoms that you wonder how the guy found time to write.) The most interesting examples, to me, were the ones that showed how differently a concept can be expressed in different languages... One other quibble I have is organizational: there isn't much of a narrative here, more a collection of examples. Each one is interesting in its own right, but the author never seems to bring it home. I kept waiting for him to start putting the pieces together and telling a story. It never happened. Despite these complaints, the fact remains that I did finish the book, I did enjoy reading it, and I came away with a greater appreciation of the true diversity of language.

Bought this as a gift for my mother who has an interest in linguistics. She said it was good and she liked the author's humor.

i appreciated that the author seemed to be familiar with many languages and for every point he was making gave examples from several language families.

While my view and review of this book is overall negative, I don't want to take away from the very obvious intelligence of the author. One can easily tell he is very smart and passionate about this subject. Unfortunately, I also think that this detracts from what could have been a better book. As others have noted, the book lacks focus and direction, and seems more to be more of the author presenting what he has learned. I don't think he did enough analysis to really break it down into something useful - or as my bosses and teachers would say "what is the 'so what'". This lack of focus also causes the book to drone on and for the author to take forever making a point (or making it over and over). As in "ok, so such thing as a language or standard language, I got it, lets move on." Again, there is a LOT of information and cool facts and observations in this book, but the lack of real effort and focus make it a mediocre effort at best. And that is a shame, because I think it had a lot more potential. I also think that based on the title and description of the book which were no doubt written by someone at the publishing company who knows how to condense ideas and thoughts effectively. Some others have complained about the author's use of pop culture terms and references such as the Simpsons, and while I see their point, it also didn't bother me too much. There were some that I didn't get, and occasionally I realized that even those I did weren't adding anything, but I don't think they took anything away, either. Some have also complained about using SO many different languages as examples and why he couldn't just pick something easier.. well, I think for a lot of the concepts, it would have been impossible. English, for example, doesn't have many conventions used in other languages, so he would've limited himself too much. I do, agree, however that he could have been more concise about the examples and more targeted in their use. I often found myself skimming over all those parts and unfortunately because of his writing, he wasn't clear about what exactly I should have gleaned from those examples. So, overall, I don't think it's as bad as some make it out to be, but it's also not good. At the very least it has a lot of material and a lot of potential and so if you want to get more out of it, you can, but that extra work for the reader means it can't be rated above 3 stars. Hopefully this helps.

I really loved this book, and am dismayed by those who decry it. Come on! McWhorter's writing is excellent and challenging. What do some people expect? Sentences that are three words long? I liked his ideas, I liked his exposition, I liked his cute little anecdotes, side-stories, and witty observations. I even loved his chapter titles and subtitles. He confirms what I've long suspected, that a lot of this "garbage" (which he calls "dammits") that we have to learn in many language such as Latin and German are mere bells and whistles, senseless accretions that do not help communication. McWhorter's use of creoles and pidgins to make his points, all the way up to the very end with his speculations on the very first language, were thrilling! I learned so much that I never got elsewhere. Moreover, McWhorter doesn't rely on English too much, though he doesn't completely ignore it, either. It is fun to be challenged to go outside of our own language, even outside the Indo-European family, in order to learn linguistic points. Bravo! Now I must say that I found one interesting mistake. On page 186 he gives the gender of the German eating utensils incorrectly. It is "die Gabel," "der Loeffel," not the other way around. Much later he gets Gabel correct (p. 229). No big deal. In fact, I thought maybe he was trying to make a point of the mistake by saying, "See how senseless genders really are?" Oh well. I didn't find any other mistakes though I only know Indo-European stuff, and have no clue about Native American languages or Chinese or elsewhere. But this was a fabulous book that I intend to read again and maybe a third time. Thank you, Professor McWhorter!!!

(exposition why I left this review) As a young x-generation techie-trekkie incognito, one of my passions was language; of course no one else shared my interest. Mine was **not** an intellectual family; so I spent my very early morning hours reading about linguistics - even the forbidden area of auxiliary languages. My unseen mentor became Mario Pei, who understood as I did that a true master of any craft can teach complex concepts with imaginative simplicity and metaphor without any condescension of superiority. It is frustrating when you discover someone like John McWhorter: a person I wish to have met in youth since he shared all my interests. Nonetheless, as Carl Sagan made science entertaining and accessible - a role now fulfilled by Neil deGrasse Tyson - John McWhorter (in my opinion) is the perfect successor after the loss of Mario Pei. He does not adhere to the orthodoxy of the intelligentsia (1st person I read who agreed with the Celtic influence on English and the importance of slang and creoles). His personality engages the listener with a self-deprecating humor, charming and funny. The best review I might leave is that I hope his legacy is as respected as Mr. Pei's.