3 comments about Being Colloquial in Esperanto: A Reference Guide for Americans.

1. This is a wonderful, and up-to-date advanced textbook for English speakers to gain fluency in the international language, Esperanto. While it covers a wide variety of topics, it focuses special attention on those words and grammatical issues that present particular problems for English speakers learning Esperanto. This is a fine addition to any English-speaking Esperantist's library.



2. With dozens of excellent examples, leavened by the author's trademark sense of humor, this work provides an excellent guide to real-life practical use of the language (my daughter is especially fond of using "Danko ne necesas; vi ricevos mian fakturon" instead of the everyday "Ne dankinde" ;-) ). Jordan is an anthropologist (specializing in Chinese studies, I believe) and this background shows itself in his concern that the student understand from the start that Esperanto is not simply an artificial language, but a "speech community". During the time I was a tutor in the e-mail Esperanto course for English-speaking beginners, I found myself turning again and again to this volume for just the right way to explain to intelligent, curious students why we say it _this_ way and not _that_ way... or why there sometimes _is_ no one answer to usage questions. Its one lack is a detailed cross-index... but even without it, because of the detailed table of contents, it's an immensely useful book. Definitely belongs on the shelf with Wells' bilingual dictionary and Auld's "Pasxoj al Plena Posedo".



3. That means "really good, enjoyable textbook for anybody at all."
   
   I giggled and guffawed my way through this witty book. If you haven't learned Esperanto yet, take a day or two off and get the basics under your belt. Then make this book your own and have a blast.
   
   While the "Interlingvo" can be used as a very utilitarian means of linguistically getting by, it is also an astonishing vehicle for poetry, rhetoric, and flamboyant chit-chat. Jordan's book is a hoot, and a darn well-grounded hoot at that. It will polish your style in short order. In all of my experience, this is undoubtedly the most playful, joyful language book I've found.
   
   I taught myself Esperanto at fifteen, while bored to tears in high school. Years later, I have chosen to cultivate my knowledge seriously. At the moment, I have the pleasure of regular 'babilado' with my upstairs neighbor, who coincidentally is also fluent. We've shared several 'ridetoj' (chuckles) over Jordan's book.
   
   I highly recommend learning the Green Language, and using this book to punch up your confidence, vocabulary, and above all FREEDOM with one of mankind's most ingenious inventions.

5 comments about Comprehensive English-Esperanto Dictionary.

1. Most English words, from the common [eg."of"=multiple listings] to technical, medical/scientific and some needing an unabridged ENGLISH dictionary are included, generally justifying the 'Comprehensive' in the title. Colloquialisms and neologisms are noted. The biggest lack I find is when there is room for a notation which would help the user categorize an obscure word [with sci/med/mil etc.] and that is not done. Overall, this is an eminently worthwhile book for anyone intersted in Esperanto!



2. This reference lives up to it's claim..."Comprehensive". If you're going to write in esperanto this a great book to have. I selected it over other works because it appeared to be the most up-to-date esperanto dictionary available, although I do wish it went both ways (ENG <-> ESP). Though I'm new to the language of esperanto, those who have an expert command of the language have also recommended this as a top-notch reference for both beginners and experienced speakers.



3. The coverage of English and the distinction between various senses of the English words and idioms defined is very thorough. However, the Esperanto equivalents given are not always the words in most common use for the given concept. Benson has a tendency to list a precise neologism while failing to mention the actual, everyday word for the concept (which may have a broader or less precise meaning than the rarely used word). E.g., for "to count" he lists "kompti", a word hardly ever used, and does not mention "kalkuli", the word routinely used for that action (though it also means "to calculate, do arithmetic", etc.). There are several similar errors that make me hesitate to trust Benson on any given word until I have checked what he tells me against other sources such as the Plena Vortaro or the Reta Vortaro. But, in combination with other sources, Benson can be very useful, especially in translating materials from English into Esperanto.



4. First off, I've tried to change the rating to four stars, but the interface won't let me.
   
   CEED is almost universally recommended as the best English-Esperanto dictionary out there, and from what I've seen, it probably is. Yet, the more I use it, the more I'm aware of how far short it falls of what we really need in an ideal English-Esperanto dictionary.
   
   The first major problem is that is NOT comprehensive... this isn't for lack of bizarrely specialized words "azygous" (which it has) or "nicad" (which it also has), but actually useful words like "coconut" and "furry," which are nowhere to be found.
   
   Benson is overly fond of grouping related words together, rather than simply using the alphabetical order one expects in a dictionary. If you look up the entry for "nut", you'll also find the translations for Brazil nut, candlenut, chestnut, "nut" in slang uses, "nut" in the sense of nut and bolt, etc. I imagine he meant to include "coconut" here, but in departing from simple alphabetizing, this (and many other would-be entries) were inadvertently left out.
   
   Similarly for "furry," if you look up "fur" you'll find the definition for a mammal's skin (pelto), clothing made from it (peltajxo) and "fur" as "coating on the tongue" (tartro)! But something got left out... what is is it that you pet when you pet your cat? Nothing directs you to the word in general use for fur, "hararo" with its adjective form "harara" serving for furry. However, if you want to look up the words "furan" or "furbelow" (whatever they are), don't worry, they have their proper Esperanto equivalents proudly printed at their side.
   
   Secondly, when Esperanto equivalents of words are given, they often seem to represent a personal preference rather than the predominant usage among Esperanto speakers. For instance, if you want to know the Esperanto equivalent for "airplane," the translation is simply given as "avio." The fact is that most Esperantists use "aviadilo" for "airplane," although the far less common "avio" is increasing. Benson translates "aircraft" correctly as "aviadilo" but doesn't indicate that it still is the everyday word to use for airplane, as well.
   
   Thirdly, there is no Esperanto grammar provided. It's common for most bilingual dictionaries to include a short grammatical summary, and after the wonderful 35-page grammatical summary of Esperanto in J.C. Wells' Teach Yourself Esperanto Dictionary, it's a travesty for any later effort to omit this.
   
   In spite of these shortcomings, CEED is an essential tool. It does have the vast majority of the words you'll need, and its translations are always understandable even if they are sometimes more specific, or more unusual than you would expect.
   
   But by far the greatest advantage is its numerous full-sentence translations of idiomatic English expressions into Esperanto. This is goes far beyond what I've seen any other bilingual dictionary attempt. The entry for "go" for example, has a page-and-a-half of wonderful example sentences on almost every sense of the word you can imagine. The helpfulness of this feature cannot be exaggerated. No Anglophone Esperantist should be without it.
   
   Unfortunately, this dictionary cannot stand by itself. I recommend using it in conjunction with another dictionary, as well as checking for usage in other sources, such as books, Internet search engine results, and reta-vortaro.com.



5. Be warned--- this dictionary is English-to-Esperanto only. If you are learning or using Esperanto in any way, you will need a dictionary with an Esperanto-to-English section as well. I recommend the one by J. C. Wells.
   
   While this dictionary is very comprehensive, I still use my Wells dictionary much more and find it more reliable. Neither dictionary indicates whether an Esperanto word comes from the Fundamento or is official. The CEED does keep some of the more recent neologisms in a ghetto in the back of the book, however. (I'd rather see the neologisms in the dictionary proper, but marked, and perhaps with a more common Esperanto word given as an alternative.)
   
   I believe that any English-speaking Esperantist who already possessed the Wells dictionary would get some good use out of this more complete, but one way only dictionary.

2 comments about Ty Esperanto (Teach Yourself).

1. You can learn Esperanto on the internet just as easy. But if you're the kind of person who wants to learn a language from a book, this book is for you.



2. I took an Esperanto class at the Community College and this is the book the professor recommended. It is written so that you can go as fast or as slowly as you want.

5 comments about Beginner's Esperanto (Hippocrene Beginner's).

1. Studying Esperanto is most enjoyable and a relatively easy language to learn. However, gathering information relating to this international culture was a daunting task until I discovered Beginner's ESPERANTO by J.F. Conroy. It was like finding 'gold'! Not only is it a comprehensive text book, but also an inspirational reference guide into the world of Esperanto. My only criticism is that, while each of the lessons has its own helpful word list, a dictionary at the end of the book would have been extremely useful.



2. This book was effectively used in an Esperanto Workshop (credit available)at University of Hartford,CT, a very few years ago. The author was obviously a talented teacher, and his experience at teaching shows in the book. It may not be ideal for the absolute beginner self teaching, but it is not easy to fault. The references and examples interspersed add greatly to understanding the language, its purpose,and its functions. As a college professor emeritus (University Of Connecticut) I have read this book and seen it "in action" although I have not directly used it in my limited teaching of Esperanto. I truly like Conroy's book. (I've been familiar with the language for many years, and have used it a few times outide the United States. )



3. Overall, this book provides lots of great exercises and a lot of information about the Esperanto movement itself. My only criticisms are: (1) The format of the book is a little difficult to read (the publishers use almost no white space to separate one exercise from another, so everything just runs together. This gives it the appearance of not being well organized and certainly not easy on the eyes), and (2) The English translations of the Esperanto texts are word-for-word. This was probably done intentionally, to give the student a literal translation of Esperanto's word-building rules, but it can also make the translations seem stilted and unnatural. However, if you can overlook the less than ideal textual formatting of the book (the publisher's fault, not the author's!) and don't mind literal, word-for-word translations, then you'll certainly benefit from the lessons, readings and detailed information (including addresses) of various organizations in the Esperanto movement.



4. This is the best 2nd book on Esperanto to get! The first book should be David Richardson's or the "Teach Yourself Esperanto" one. Conroy's book should be the 2nd one to get because it's more thorough. There are tons of vocabulary lists, readings and exercises in this one, not to mention a complete treatment of the grammar. Whereas you could complete a basic book on Esperanto in a few weeks, this one will take you at least a few months to work through. For someone who wants to learn the language quickly so they can correspond with other Esperantists worldwide, the pace in this book wouldn't be acceptable. Esperanto IS an easy language to learn, but Conroy's book will take you to the next level and then some!



5. Even though the author may be well versed in this language he is too technical with grammar in the beginning. Reader gets overwhelmed with all the points of grammar. Way too much to absorb at the start. Seems like he wants to IMPRESS the reader
   with his knowledge instead of presenting the material in an easy as possible way to absorb it, put it to practical use. He makes my head "swim" in trying to put it all together "right off the bat". Also the word lists are "disjointed". Got to flip back
   and forth too much to find them, etc.

No comments about La Aventuroj de Alicio en Mirlando (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in Esperanto) (Esperanto Edition).

No comments about English-Esperanto-English Dictionary (2010 Edition).

5 comments about Esperanto (Teach Yourself) (Revised: 3rd Edition).

1. I ordered this book through my local library, because I was interested learning about Esperanto. Once I had it, I realized I would need a permanent copy for myself. I searched everywhere on the internet for it, but because it is out of print the only place I found it was here, on Amazon.com. The price was $30.68, which is outrageous for a book of not even 200 pages. But I paid it, because this book really is priceless!
   If you want to learn Esperanto, you need this book.



2. Two years ago, while in high school, I formed an Independent Study class with a couple other students to learn Esperanto. It's a relatively esoteric subject for most people, so we were worried we would be unable to find an effective text book. We ultimately decided on Esperanto from the Teach Yourself series, and were pleased beyond our expectations. I was amazed by not only how easy the language is to learn, but by the wonderful format and selection of vocabulary presented by the book. The book does not patronize you with repetitive material, and instead uses every page to pack in more of the language. Complete with wonderful appendicies (and a comprable dictionary), I felt that I learned more from that book than I did from my first three years of formal classes in Spanish. Although I have used a more advanced textbook since, shortly after finishing the TY Esperanto book, I had very little trouble tackling La Hobito (the Hobbit), Genesis, and poetry in Esperanto to test my success and build vocabulary. I fear, if interest fades or not enough materials like this remain available, this wonderful experiment with linguistics will die. Don't be afraid to help Esperanto stay alive, and Teach Yourself Esperanto.



3. This is simply a brilliant textbook for beginners. I bought the book without any knowledge of Esperanto whatsoever, and I find this book very useful. It has a logic structure and explains everything really well. The book includes a lot of helpful excercises as well as solutions to all of them. I highly recommend this book to everybody who would like to learn Esperanto without any prior knowledge the language. Ci tiu estas tre bona libro - mi rekomendas gin!



4. Speak Mandarin Chinese For BeginnersThe Michel Thomas Method (8-CD Beginner's Program)
   Michel Thomas Method Speak Mandarin Chinese Advanced
   
   I am the author of the Michel Thomas series on learning spoken Mandarin. For the past 40+ years I have been studying languages and collecting language learning aids.
   
   Teach Yourself Esperanto, which, unfortunately is now only available used, is bar none the very best textbook I have ever found to learn Esperanto. I have it beside me as I write. What an amazing and delicious book!!
   
   There are several books which are used by English-speakers to study Esperanto. However, none of them comes close to the obvious love and brilliance that has gone into the preparation of this book.
   
   The authors were reknowned British Esperantists who had years of teaching experience under their belts. They also have an intuitive understanding of how to make potentially difficult concepts very easy. These little pearls which occur throughout the book are more than worth whatever you pay for it.
   
   These days there is a lot of use of the internet to learn languages and Esperanto is a prime example. We have the wonderful site, lernu dot net. Also, Google " don harlow + esperanto " and you will come up with a wealth of wisdom on how to learn and use Esperanto.
   
   However, with all of the above you still will want a reliable book to guide you through the language.
   
   This is the book.
   
   Just get it. Never ever lend it. You won't get it back!
   
   A real gem.



5. This is a very thorough Esperanto book; however, I have found a few minor typos like the "hat" being left off a letter where it definitely should be, and Esperanto titles of Mr., Mrs., and Miss (Sr-o, S-ino, and F-ino) are sometimes capitalized and sometimes not (and I don't mean just at the beginning of a sentence), but these should not present the student with any problems as they are very minor typos, and even the student can readily see that.
   
   The author apparently does not like dogs because I came across at least two sentences like "The man beat the dog with a stick" and "The boy was beating the dog." I was actually a bit shocked by these sentences in a language book because the sentence examples should be about positive or neutral subjects, not something depressing like this. Otherwise, there are lots of activities and examples and one can learn Esperanto thoroughly from this book. There is a lot of interesting reading material, which I found quite interesting and educational.
   
   I recommend this book for its thorough coverage of Esperanto and many examples, exercises, and reading material. However, as the book is currently out of print, used copies can be quite expensive.

No comments about A Complete Grammar of Esperanto: With Graded Exercises for Reading and Translation together with Full Vocabularies (Forgotten Books).

5 comments about Esperanto Learning and Using the International Language.

1. This is my favorite beginning Esperanto book. The vocabulary choices are good, with more difficult words being introduced in a logical manner (not all at once!) The excercises are at a good gradient - not too hard -- and the words a new Esperantist would need are introduced early on.

   Within just a few days I was able to correspond with Esperanto speakers from all over the world.

   I highly recommend the language and this book!




2. If you've already started studying Esperanto, you probably have a textbook like "Teach Yourself Esperanto" and a dictionary like "Teach Yourself Esperanto Dictionary" by J. C. Wells. But, if you're new to Esperanto, and just wanting to learn more about it and perhaps get started on grammar and vocabulary, then you can't beat Esperanto: Learning and Using the International Language.
   
   If not available through Amazon, it's always easy to get this book from ELNA, the national Esperanto organization.



3. This book is in many ways the lineal descendant of the once popular "Esperanto: The World Interlanguage", to which a younger David Richardson himself made some minor contributions. I've never been particularly happy with the system used in both books, breaking the work down into expository section, lessons, reader and appendices. Each of these deserves a book of its own. The problem is always what weight to give each section vis a vis the others; and every reader will have his or her preferred balance.
   
   Having said this, I have to add that Richardson did an excellent job of implementing the system in this book, better than the one in its predecessor. For one thing, he omitted the purely topical (and so ephemeral) material, such as the earlier work's long list of currently popular books and magazines in Esperanto, and UEA delegate categories.
   
   The four chapters of explanation ("Communications and the Language Barrier") are well-written, and still of great interest, though they were written in the 1980s and so do not address the changes in the world over the past two decades; I don't find any mention of the internet, for instance. Perhaps for a fourth edition Richardson or some designated person will add a fifth chapter to bring the reader up to date.
   
   The hundred-page ten-lesson Esperanto course will teach you everything you need to know about Esperanto to actually start using the language (actually, you can start using it after the first one or two lessons). The ten-lesson system unfortunately requires that even in a language with an excellent word-building system such as Esperanto there will be relatively long lists of basic vocabulary to memorize, but Richardson offsets this to some degree with well-thought-out drills and exercises.
   
   For me, the real meat of the book is in the 130-page reading section. This isn't just a collection of reading material, but devotes almost as much space to annotations and explanations, which to some extent makes it an extension and polishing of the ten-lesson course.
   
   The whole thing is rounded off by a bibliography, which also suffers (slightly) by being somewhat dated, and a fairly complete Esperanto-English vocabulary. Since there is no English-Esperanto vocabulary, the purchaser might also want to get a copy of an appropriate dictionary. For the neophyte, I'd recommend the inexpensive two-way EAB MiniDictionary; the more ambitious student may want a copy of the Comprehensive English-Esperanto Dictionary.
   
   All in all, a good book to acquire if you intend to learn Esperanto and pursue the language to whatever degree.



4. It's really four-and-a-half stars. Since Teach Yourself Esperanto went out of print, this is almost certainly the best print-based Esp-o course for Anglophones.
   
   My only gripes:
   First, it needs an English-Esperanto glossary to complement its excellent Esperanto-English glossary.
   
   Second, despite the third edition being published in 2004, this is book is essentially twenty-five years old. Its history of Esperanto has no information of anything happening since 1981 (despite the renaissance that the Internet has given the Esperanto movement), and the glossary has no computer/Web/electronic terms. The only difference I could discern between it and the second edition was a one-paragraph biographical note about the author.



5. This book gives a very good overview of Esperanto and the Esperanto movement that supports the language. While the photographs are old enough to verge on being funny, the information is solid and the language teaching techniques are useful. I am using the book to teach someone Esperanto, and we are having a good experience with it.

5 comments about In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build A Perfect Language.

1. Apparently throughout history there have been hundreds of people who thought that they could eliminate the misunderstandings among peoples leading to war through a new universal language, systematize our understanding of the connections among things in the natural world by having those connections reflected in the structure of the language itself, or wipe out the inadvertent social constructs imposed on our thought and behavior by culturally biased native languages. The author lists 500 such efforts and there apparently have been thousands. None of these efforts have worked other than, at a very low level, Esperanto. The tales told in this book show that most of the moving forces behind these efforts were megalomaniacs convinced that they alone had the magic key to the kingdom. To the doubtful extent that any such system could have any chance of success, they mostly didn't "take" because they were too complex and/or too far removed from native languages. It takes the author until page 258 (out of 293 pages in the hardcover) to state the obvious: "Ambiguity, or fuzziness of meaning, is not a 'flaw' of natural language but a 'feature' that gives it flexibility and that, for whatever reason, suits our minds and the way we think. Likewise, the fact that languages depend on arbitrary convention or cultural habit is not a flaw but a feature that allows us to rein in the fuzziness by establishing agreed-upon meanings at different levels of precision. Language needs its 'flaws' in order to do the enormous range of things we use it for." I enjoyed this book because the sheer number of these past systematizing efforts is truly astonishing, but it could fruitfully have been cut significantly: each new protagonist is the same story of overweening conceit, followed by inevitable disappointment.



2. Anyone who's interested in invented languages or even just language in general would find this book fun to read and very informative as well. The content is a nicely balanced combination of history, overviews of the characteristics of some invented languages, and the author's personal experiences in relation to some of them. Her writing style is friendly and easy to read yet doesn't skimp on substance.



3. I'm going to be honest: this book is a stellar idea, and Aria Okrent has a oft sly and playful style, but it lacks something.
   
   Perhaps this is caused by the exuberance of a writer who enjoys her subject *too* much and thus leaves her audience behind. This is is not to say that In The Land of Invented languages is a BAD book; the subject matter is interesting, and the writing lacks any obvious flaws, garnering 4 stars on this and the humor. It could just be more loosely organized, interspersing subjects and anecdotes more fluidly to vary the form.
   
   I come away from The Land of Invented Languages muttering "this is good, yes, but with a good editor it would be BETTER!"



4. As someone fascinated with the structure and development of spoken languages, I looked forward to this book more than any in years. Finally, I thought, Okrent's book will fill the need to communicate the most basic rudiments of language construction to the layman, not as a dry textbook, but in a readable "pop science" format -- the difference between a phoneme and a morpheme; the de-emphasis on information redundancy in modern languages, which no longer include noun declension; the equally fascinating science of constructing written languages, or "conscripts." High-level language use is the only achievement Homo sapiens can really claim as unique, and so any exploration into the structure and evolution of language can scarcely help but fascinate.
   
   To my immense surprise, Okrent's book does not contain even an *attempt* at providing an overview of linguistic structure! For the first chapter I was in the dark on what Okrent was even setting about to achieve, then in chapter 2, 'A History of Failure,' she provides an anecdote about a kooky would-be universal language inventor, admitting, "It was this overblown ridiculousness that first attracted me to the artificial-language section of the library. It was very entertaining to read the unreasonable boasts..." Bluntly, Okrent selected her topic because she sees invented language enthusiasts (surely the target readership of her book?) as an easy target for belittlement. The thesis of her book is that *all* invented languages were designed for the sole purpose of replacing all existing languages with a new universal language, and so (using Okrent's historically phony metric), *all* invented languages are failures. A small sample of the fact-fudging Okrent has to perform to shoe-horn reality into her predetermined agenda:
   
   * In reality, most constructed languages are created as linguistic exercises; tinkering with language structure is the surest way to grasp how the hidden mechanisms of language function, and how deeply our language structure predetermines which thoughts are even possible. Only a tiny number are created to overthrow all existing language. As a PhD in psycholinguistics, Okrent knows full well that NONE of the languages in her book's subtitle (Esperanto, Klingon and Loglan) were created to replace all existing languages -- so why does she conflate them together with those that were? Okrent consistently groups brilliant linguists like L. L. Zamenhof and J.R.R. Tolkien together with schizophrenics in a way that could easily mislead her non-linguist readers who are forced to take the factuality of her claims on faith.
   
   * The oldest known constructed language (or conlang) was the Lingua Ignota, invented around 1150 A.D. by Hildegard von Bingen. In reality, von Bingen was among the most brilliant and successful innovators in history (for instance, expanding the science of music notation to compose hauntingly beautiful choral pieces that are still performed today). There is NO historical evidence that von Bingen ever intended for anyone outside the two nunneries she supervised (plus a few friends) to ever discover that Lingua Ignota even existed, let alone replace all existing languages. No one has seriously proposed that Lingua Ignota was intended to be a new universal language since the 19th century. But to suit her agenda Okrent is willing to bend history sufficiently to include von Bingen as the first subject in her chapter "A History of Failure." It is simply not acceptable for even a pop science book to so grossly misrepresent the facts, or to assert unsupported claims that are more than 100 years out of date, as though they were scientifically credible. Does Spiegel & Grau (Random House) do any fact-checking at all, or just assume that people with doctorates are infallible?
   
   * Okrent's chief target is Charles Bliss. Admittedly, Bliss said and did some very kooky things (internment at the Dachau concentration camp would tweak anyone). But Bliss also invented a system for writing concepts as simple, picture-like symbols which proved far more effective than any other system in the world in helping some handicapped kids communicate. His system is still in use today. Bliss got into a tiff with a Canadian centre for kids with cerebral palsy when he wanted dictatorial control over how his language was used, and in 1982 the centre ended up settling for $160,000. Okrent summarizes this exchange as, "There's no other way to put it: Bliss, self-proclaimed savior of humanity, stole $160,000 from crippled children." Wow! I can think of at least one other way to put it: "In 1982 the OCCC *chose* to purchase Blisssymbols, which represented more than 30 years of work, because it dramatically helped handicapped children communicate, thus dramatically improving their lives, better than any other system in the world." I am hugely disappointed in Ms. Okrent for knowingly putting such an unfair spin on the facts just to make a sensationalistic attack on a dead man. Ms. Okrent, please let us know when you've leveraged your PhD into something a tenth as useful to the world as Mr. Bliss' lasting contribution to the lives of handicapped children.
   
   * The Golden Age of language construction was the 1800s, when people still generally believed a perfect language -- without for instance any logical ambiguities -- might really be attainable. This idea has turned out to be naive, but the underlying quest to isolate and map the building blocks of thought is still going strong; it increasingly appears that Chomsky's idea of a "universal grammar" is correct, but that the core grammar is sub-verbal (more a set of emotional symbols, like Jung's archetypes). But while the "universal grammar" itself seems to be sub-verbal, the simple languages of primal (tribal) cultures seem to provide our best picture of the actual mechanics. This quest to identify the underlying "grammars" of us Homo sapiens is one of the most exciting things happening in the world of linguistics today, but Okrent incorrectly presents the idea as disproven and laughable.
   
   This book does NOT do an adequate job to qualify as even a pop-science history of artificial languages. This book does NOT teach the reader even the basics of language structure or construction (there are a few interesting observations on structure tossed in at the end, but haphazardly). This book is a series of loosely-connected anecdotes, written in the form of a travelogue, about would-be universal language constructionists (plus a few Kingon speakers) and their kooky, borderline schizophrenic behavior for the purpose of having a laugh at their expense.
   
   That this is the only book in print on constructed languages makes me very angry and very sad. I hope the publishers at least retitle the upcoming paperback to make it clear that this book is ONLY genuinely focused on mocking the quest for a "perfect" language, rather than conflating that Quixotic goal with the sober, fascinating, still-nascent science of understanding language structure and construction.
   
   Okrent is obviously bright, talented, well-educated and (to judge by her website) even rather good-looking. I have no doubt she's capable of writing a book that tackles equally complex subjects while managing the same breezy readability as this one, but without the omnipresent mean-spiritedness and brazen factual misrepresentations. Here's hoping Okrent moves on quickly to better things, and this book quietly fades from print and memory.



5. If you are only going to read one book on linguistics, then you may want to read this book: at least you won't consider the subject boring. The author can perhaps be criticized for letting her pent-up creative juices flow a little too freely here and there, but as a lively intellect repressed by stuffy academic pursuits she has the right to go a bit overboard in a book targeted for a general audience. I would have liked to have seen more attention paid to mathematics and logic as artificial languages, but perhaps this would require another book.