Book Rec of the Day 2/5/2007

QUIRKY HISTORIES

“Abley deals not only in words but in the people who speak them, and he does so vividly and eloquently...Illuminating.”—Chicago Sun-Times

Most travelogues chronicle the people, the food, the architecture, the famous sites. Abley’s focuses on the languages, with fascinating results. Of the six thousand languages spoken today, only six hundred or so are expected to survive another hundred years. Abley crosses the globe, from tiny islands off Australia to Maine to explore why languages fade and how that affects culture.

SPOKEN HERE: TRAVELS AMONG THREATENED LANGUAGES, by Mark Abley (Mariner Books, 2005)