Mother Tongue (Bill Bryson)

Like most of Bryson's early books, this is the story of a journey, but in this case the journey of a language from its beginnings to current place via various obscure outposts. The book is packed with interesting facts about the language, some of which may stray slightly from the verifiable truth, but the book is not bogged down in detail. This is a light read, not an academic exercise in linguistics. An excellent introduction to the background to our language, and some questions for the future in this global media age, I loved every page.