Books like Pronouncing Shakespeare — picked by fans

I’ve been fascinated by languages since my teenage years, when I learned English, French, Spanish, Latin, Hebrew, and Esperanto—in addition to my native Russian. But it was in college that I decided to pursue linguistics as a profession! After spending 25 years conducting scientific research and teaching linguistics at various universities, I shifted my focus toward sharing linguistic science with a broader audience of lifelong learners. Whether or not these books inspire you to pursue linguistics as a career, I hope you find these books as enjoyable and rewarding as I have.  

I’ve been fascinated by languages since my teenage years, when I learned English, French, Spanish, Latin, Hebrew, and Esperanto—in addition to my native Russian. But it was in college that I decided to pursue linguistics as a profession! After spending 25 years conducting scientific research and teaching linguistics at various universities, I shifted my focus toward sharing linguistic science with a broader audience of lifelong learners. Whether or not these books inspire you to pursue linguistics as a career, I hope you find these books as enjoyable and rewarding as I have.  

I’ve been fascinated by languages since my teenage years, when I learned English, French, Spanish, Latin, Hebrew, and Esperanto—in addition to my native Russian. But it was in college that I decided to pursue linguistics as a profession! After spending 25 years conducting scientific research and teaching linguistics at various universities, I shifted my focus toward sharing linguistic science with a broader audience of lifelong learners. Whether or not these books inspire you to pursue linguistics as a career, I hope you find these books as enjoyable and rewarding as I have.  

I’ve been fascinated by languages since my teenage years, when I learned English, French, Spanish, Latin, Hebrew, and Esperanto—in addition to my native Russian. But it was in college that I decided to pursue linguistics as a profession! After spending 25 years conducting scientific research and teaching linguistics at various universities, I shifted my focus toward sharing linguistic science with a broader audience of lifelong learners. Whether or not these books inspire you to pursue linguistics as a career, I hope you find these books as enjoyable and rewarding as I have.  

My book is about political intrigue, violence, war, heroes and villains, libels and dreams, secret plots to overthrow governments, and murders most foul. It unfolds during a tense era of cultural upheaval and radical social change. A lifetime immersed in the works of Shakespeare helped prepare me to write it. I spent more than 20 years working for the New York Times, most of it as a foreign correspondent. My foreign postings placed me at the center of historic events and, at times, in the line of fire.

I grew up in a bilingual environment (Welsh and English) and have been fascinated by languages ever since, and the way they reflect thought, culture, and history. An English degree course at University College London gave me an academic grounding in language and literature, and I've been exploring and writing on those subjects ever since, eventually as a professor of linguistics, and these days as an independent scholar. My website provides a complete list of my publications, along with links to other materials. And the most fascinating thing about language? Its diversity and change. Whatever a language was like yesterday, it's different today, and will be different again tomorrow.

I began my career in 1988 as an English language teacher in Japan. I originally went for a one-year adventure, but soon found myself fascinated by language, and how it is learned and used. This eventually led to a professorship at the University of Nottingham, where I have the good fortune to consult on language issues worldwide. I have researched language extensively, but all of my previous publications were meant for an academic/educational audience. I wanted to produce a book for general readership which outlines all that I have learned in 35 years of language research, and Language Power is the result. I hope you find it useful in your language-based life. 

Growing up with two languages, I always wondered how one ‘retrieves’ the right words. Later, I worked on how children acquire a language. I looked at when they understood words like IN and ON; BIG and LOW; FATHER, SISTER, or COUSIN; HERE, THERE; BEFORE and AFTER. I tracked when children could produce such words, too. And I found that designing experiments was fun and rewarding. I also worked on when and how children coin words to fill gaps: TO OAR = row; a CUT-GRASS = lawn-mower; a CLIMBER = ladder. I found that learning a first language is a long journey, with many steps along the way.

I’ve been writing children’s books all my adult life. That means trying to find ways to communicate exactly what I’m imagining. I love words and stories. As a teenager, I wrote down my favourite words and carried them around with me. When I had children, I was fascinated by how fast they learned to make themselves understood, with and without words. The words we choose are important – but they’re only one way to communicate. What about pictures? Body language? Online media? Pheromones? The signals animals and plants give out? The more I learn about communication, the more fascinating it becomes.

I’ve been fascinated by (and in love with) language for as long as I can remember; how and why it works, and how slight alterations in phrasing and framing can produce vastly different results in practice. I love looking out for metaphors and phrases that function as tools, directing how we understand and engage with the world. While my research applies these insights to both law and economics, the key takeaways are widely applicable and relevant to all areas of life. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I have.