Excellent, scholarly and easily understood. ( )

This book is a real treasure and it is not necessary to sit down and read it cover to cover in order to enjoy it. Keep it with you, read individual chapters as they catch your interest, go back and forth, let the book inspire you and entertain you with it's wonderful mix of linguistics, history, and literature. ( )

This book tells the detailed stories of all the English dialects and non-standard branches of the English language, starting way back with Old English and moving up to the present. I'm only a wee bit into the book, but I love picking it up and reading a short section.

A bit heavy going for me, particularly in the early chapters. ( )

The usual staggering erudition and easy style we expect from David Crystal made almost unreadable in this Penguin edition by skimped production - narrow margins, tiny type, dull paper. Very disappointing. ( )