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)

Excellent

A fine story and finely told. The only problem I had with this book is that it was too short.

Great fun!

I find it hard to give a non fiction book five stars but this one fully deserves it! I just wish I could remember everything I learned from it! Of course I will listen to it again, perhaps several times. If you like delving into word origins, or if you just love the English language and how it has come to be used, you will love this book. You will even see how it is growing and changing at this very moment.

The narrator, Robert Powell, is called upon to speak with many different dialects, and even to sing, all of which he pulls off with total perfection.

Haha, I find myself wondering where everything I write came from originally.

Many Of Course monments

Highly recommend to anyone who loves our language, hates our language, or just wants to know where in the world did that come from. Be prepared for the book of lists as my wife called it, but it does not detract from the content. There are many times when you will hear the origin of the word or words and say of course, it makes sense now. This book shows that we speak a living history.

This book is the best example of an audiobook being better than the written word. The narrator does make the book.

Engaging but long winded

This book gives an approachable survey of the evolution of English. I learned many things, such as the strong influence of French on English via the Norman Conquest. The author speaks from a British perspective. If you are not familiar with, say, the Battle of Hastings, you may want to consult Wikipedia as you go along.

I grew bored during the second half of the book, and felt I had to slog to the finish line. This may be because, as the author moves forward in time, the history becomes more familiar. While it was interesting to learn about the language of the Wild West cowboys, I found this part less engaging because I already knew about them.

The book could say as much as it does in about 2/3 of the space. The periodic rhapsodies to the power of English can wear thin after a while. Nonetheless, I don't regret reading it.

Well worded

Yes, the reading does get off to a slow start, but don't stop there. The ponderous listing of words at the outset is well overbalanced by the gloriously entertaining volume of information about the evolution and spread and variation of the English language from early to present day, from England outward. If you have any curiosity about the language, you will certainly be spell-bound by the writing and--especially--the reading of this book. I think it will bear many hearings, my marque of a good book, particularly a good audio-book.

A Must for Those Who Love the Language

For those to whom writing and speaking English are important in their professional or personal lives this is a must. This work provides both entertainment and valuable insight into the most adaptable language in the world.

English revisited

When I purchased this audio I wasn't sure what to expect, but it quickly fascinated me to learn how English became such a widely used language, how it evolved and where the origin of many of our words today came from. Wonderfully read and informative. Just what I was hoping for.

Not an original concept

Start with Bill Bryson???s 1990 gem ???The Mother Tongue???; remove Bryson???s trademark humor and substitute a scholarly tone; use many of the same sources and examples, but drop some and expand some others; include a few (but surprising few) examples from the dozen years between the two publication dates. There you have Bragg???s The Adventure of English. It was good, it was interesting, but it wasn???t original.

Great book; wonderful narration

Filled with great history of the English language with etymology that is fun, educational and inspired. The voice of Robert Powell brings the words to life and makes the audio version of this book phenomenal.

Better then I expected.

When I got this audio book i was expecting it to be sort of boring. However I was happily disappointed. The book is well written and interesting and it help my attention through the entire thing. I was also impressed with the narrators ability to pronounce the words and really bring the history of the English language to life. Thank you audible for an amazing listen!