Synopses & Reviews
When did
ghost acquire its silent
h? Will cyberspace kill the one in
rhubarb? And was it really rocket scientists who invented spell-check?
In Righting the Mother Tongue, author David Wolman tells the cockamamie story of English spelling, by way of a wordly adventure from English battlefields to Google headquarters. Along the way, he joins spelling reformers picketing the national spelling bee, visits the town in Belgium—not England—where the first English books were printed, and takes a road trip with the boss at Merriam-Webster Inc. Wolman punctuates the journey with spelling wars waged by the likes of Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, Theodore Roosevelt, and Andrew Carnegie.
Rich with history, pop culture, curiosity, and humor, Righting the Mother Tongue explores how English spelling came to be, traces efforts to mend the code, and imagines the shape of tomorrow's words.
Review
“An engaging ramble through our orthographic thickets” Boston Globe
Review
“A funny and fact-filled look at our astoundingly inconsistent written language, from Shakespeare to spell-check.” St. Petersburg Times
Review
The lively, informative book is full of evidence/cocktail party fodder proving that the English spelling system is a hopeless tangle of French, Dutch, Latin, German and much, much more and really makes no sense at all. Portland Tribune
Review
A lively, engaging look at the idiosyncratic derivations and permutations of spelling in the English language. Seattle Post Intelligencer
Review
“Sprightly history that sensibly balances the merits of standardization against the forces for freedom.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
An intellectual travelogue across the centuries that also ranges geographically from the Litchfield haunts of Dr. Johnson, creator of the first great English dictionary, to the Silicon Valley home of Les Earnest, the progenitor of computerized spell-checking. Wall Street Journal
Synopsis
When did ghost acquire its silent h? Will cyberspace kill the one in rhubarb? And was it really rocket scientists who invented spell-check? David Wolman answers these questions and more in Righting the Mother Tongue.
Wolman takes students on the journey of Seven-hundred years of trial, error, and reform that have made the history of English spelling a jumbled and fascinating mess. Wolman tells the cockamamie story of English spelling, by way of a worldly adventure-from English battlefields to Google headquarters. Along the way, he joins spelling reformers picketing the national spelling bee, visits the town in Belgium where the first English books were printed, and takes a road trip with the boss at Merriam-Webster Inc.
Righting the Mother Tongue is a captivating story rich with history, pop culture, curiosity, and humor that shows students how English spelling came to be, traces efforts to mend the code, and imagines the shape of tomorrow's words.
--Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
David Wolman is the author of A Left-Hand Turn Around the World and writes for magazines such as Wired, Newsweek, Outside, National Geographic Traveler and New Scientist. He lives in Portland, OR.