The Adventure of English

The Biography of a Language

By: Melvyn Bragg

Narrated by: Robert Powell

Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

This is the remarkable story of the English language; from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language.

The Adventure of English is not only an enthralling story of power, religion, and trade, but also the story of people, and how their lives continue to change the extraordinary language that is English.

©2003 Melvyn Bragg (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Both entertaining and informative." (Booklist)
"This 'biography' succeeds in its broad, sweeping narrative." (Publishers Weekly)

Pop linguistics--Easily ingested, easily forgotten

The history English may be an "adventure," as suggested by the title, but this book is a thin, breezy version of the "biography" promised in the subtitle. The sentences and paragraphs are well written when not interspersed by long lists of words, supposedly linked by the fact that they appeared in the language from the same source or at roughly the same time. My suspicion is that the author put in these lists when he ran short of inspiration in telling his story. Such lists are more easily digestible if the reader is actually reading the book rather than listening to it being read, because then they can be skipped over or meditated upon, depending on the reader's mood.

The author seems to care more about word origins than about the grammar of the language, though I would have thought the grammar is of greater interest, given that the language is a combination of two distinct sources -- German and French -- with dissimilar grammars of their own.

Listening to the book read by the very able Robert Powell is a painless, sometimes pleasurable experience, though this listener was left wondering what more one could have learned from a book on the same topic written by a genuine linguist or historian.

A brilliant adventure in English

I have a physical copy of this book, which I found quite heavy going - however, Robert Powell's narration made all the difference. He manages to get his tongue around Old English so well that I actually understood the words, even though they are so different to the English of today. The tale of the growth of the language is fast paced and exciting, with many new insights. I did find the odd list of words quite tiresome at first, until I understood why they were included.

Overall, I think this is an excellent book for anyone who loves the English language, and wants to understand its roots

loved it!

loved it! very informative, easy to listen to, I learned alot!! will listen to more by this author!

Bought this for my Unisa ENG3701 module - happy

If you are interested in history or in the English language, you'd LOVE this book.

If you are not a fan of history because you feel history books are only pages of dates and a bunch of description of events on these dates, this book has a pleasant surprise for you in store. It is not a cold, impersonal documentary. Instead, the author described the history of the English language as if English were a person - on an adventure.

I didn't buy this book because I wanted to. This was a prescribed book for a module at university. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to sit down and read 343 pages. I like multitasking and so this audio book was very helpful.

The reader did an amazing jobs with the accents! I really enjoyed listening to him. It made the book less boring.

Please note: the book differs a bit from the audio book because in the book are some pages containing lists of words 'absorbed into the English language' which the narrator didn't always read.

If you are a student who doesn't like reading, download this book. Listen to it while at the gym, cooking, driving, or when you just want to procrastinate and do anything but read. (I love procrastinating and would rather be doing my nails instead of studying. But now - I could do both.)

This was my very first audio book. I am so not disappointed.

fascinating story, Great performance

the story of the English language really fascinates. Robert Powell's narration is excellent , especially when he does accents.

A real enjoyment

Would you consider the audio edition of The Adventure of English to be better than the print version?

I wounldn't know; I haven't read the print version. I find it nice to listen in the car, however.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This wasn't a fiction book. I enjoyed the character of English as it progressed. John Wycliff and Chaucer were very interesting participants in the development of English.

What about Robert Powell’s performance did you like?

Easy to understand. good pacing

Great Read

What made the experience of listening to The Adventure of English the most enjoyable?

I have never really liked the English language for more reasons than it was the only class I failed growing up. Though I love writing I just didn't appreciate it, and though I still find it lacking qualities that that other languages may have I love what it took to get it here. The adventure that English has taken to get to this point is rather amazing. The book is way better as an audio book due in part to the many different languages spoken throughout the book. But i do say that the visual aids given in the book are great companions as you listen. Best book for me thus far this year.

Who was your favorite character and why?

the fight between French and English

Which scene was your favorite?

i really liked the sware words section. was very informitive.

What a fun read!!

I just love this! Excellent writing to attempt to explain how English was conquered by and conquered everything they have encountered in the last 1500 years. It’s witty,entertaining and fun. I seldom find myself running for a dictionary, but there were many surprising ‘finds’, but with few exceptions they are explained in the text. The reader was so expert demonstrating the many and mellifluous dialects, the music of each distinct regional and global English was thrilling. It’s a pity the music is largely gone from our mother tongue. The clipped, unintelligible phrases of Oxford and the flat, bland television English on American TV. I’ve always thought dealwiddit was especially well adapted to Long Island, and ‘sin’ needed that long Texas treatment to get the message across. And who can but admire the magnificent poetry of The King James Bible? It was so good I’m in withdrawal,, looking for something else to slake my thirst for elevated sparkling conversation.

TRUELY an Adventure in English and HISTORY.

Audio: Excellent. Clear, crisp, enunciation. Narrator has a British accent, (and why not, the author is English), and was VERY easily understood by this American. This book is a SPECIAL TREAT as it is actually BETTER TO LISTEN to it than to read it. This is because of the innumerable authentic-sounding pronunciations of English word derivations and origins throughout history. Even if the words are spelled phonetically in the book (and I don't know if they are), I say you cannot beat having them pronounced properly. This REALLY brings the book alive.

Content: Outstanding. The Adventure of English is an adventure in history also, as it necessarily must be. Celtic, Norse, Friesen (sp?), Norman French, Latin, French, Spanish, u-name-it. England, Normandy, U.S.A., the Carribean, Australia, et al. Henry II and Eleanor of Acquitaine, Chaucer, Tyndale, Philip Sidney, Mark Twain, oh, and Shakespeare of course, to name a few. The subject matter is presented in a personal and personable manner. It is not technical or aloof. Tres facile a' comprendre. N'est-ce pas? I usually read philosophy, politics, current events, and fiction. This book was a very worthwhile departure from that. I highly recommend this book and I will be LISTENING to it again.

Fabulous Except For The Australian

Superbly written and read, this book turns what could be a dry subject into an exciting adventure. I didn't want it to stop. It was fascinating and wondrous. Poetic, and provocative. American English is treated with the respect it deserves, Shakespeare with freshness, and all through it all the English language is treated like a real hero, strong and determined, yet with large flaws such as a rapacious appetite for devouring other languages and spreading like an infection to places it was not invited. The author delivers a story that is inspiring, and gives language itself a humanity that makes it easy to relate to like an old friend.

The one serious flaw is that the author appears never to have lived long periods in various parts of Australia, for if he had, he would have discovered that the various books purporting to celebrate the Australian vernacular that have been published during the 20th century have more to do with a certain Australian mythology than anything else. City based authors report word usages that, like story's about levitation, are sworn to exist in some place beyond the black stump, but cannot normally be witnessed except when an Australian is 'bunging it on a bit'. Likewise writers from the country tend to exaggerate the bush culture for the benefit of outsiders.

By relying on these written reports and no doubt watching movies like 'The Adventures Of Barry MacKenzie', or 'They're A Weird Mob', the author seems to believe that Australians actually have spoken like this in real life. Maybe they do when living in Kings Cross, in London. This kind of larger than life Australianism bonds expatriates in a tribal manner. Back home in a Sydney suburb they often do the opposite when they return by 'putting on' an English affectation.

The section on Australian English was full of absurd phrases that I have never heard in my life, and, as described, was as foreign to me, as an Australian, as the author's native Northumbrian.