By Hook or By Crook - Crystal, David

By Hook or By Crook by Crystal, David

Format: Hardcover with Dust Jacket

Published by Harry N. Abrams, 2008

David Crystal combines personal reflections, historical allusions, and traveler's observations to create a mesmerizing and entertaining narrative account of his encounters with the English language and its speakers. Starting in his British home and moving all the way to Poland and off to San Francisco, Crystal encounters numerous linguistic side roads that he cannot resist exploring. All is subject to Crystal's inquisitive exploration - from pubs to trains to Tolkien - and each digression casts new light on the development of English as it is spoken today. By Hook or by Crook is a linguistic travelogue like no other, an attempt to capture the seductive, quirky, teasing, tantalizing nature of language itself.