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A Journey Through the Stone Age and the Origins of Modern Language
by Christopher Stevens
Witty and erudite, Written in Stone is the first etymology book to reveal how the English language is based on original Stone Age words.
Half the world's population speaks a language that has evolved from a single, prehistoric mother tongue. A mother tongue first spoken in Stone Age times, on the steppes of central Eurasia 6,500 years ago. It was so effective that it flourished for two thousand years. It was a language that spread from the shores of the Black Sea across almost all of Europe and much of Asia. It is the genetic basis of everything we speak and write today - the DNA of language.
Written in Stone combines detective work, mythology, ancient history, archaeology, the roots of society, technology and warfare, and the sheer fascination of words to explore that original mother tongue, sketching the connections woven throughout the immense vocabulary of English - with some surprising results.
In snappy, lively and often very funny chapters, it uncovers the most influential and important words used by our Neolithic ancestors, and shows how they are still in constant use today - the building blocks of all our most common words and phrases.
"Starred Review. Stevens's passion for wordplay can lead to frenetic writing, but it's always enlightening and engaging. This is a delight for anyone who loves language in any form." - Publishers Weekly
"Stevens, an adventurer in language, demonstrates considerable prowess (from Es, to exist) in making the journey both edifying and entertaining." - Kirkus
"The history of English is fascinating and this is a delightful distraction from a more serious linguistic approach to the topic." - Library Journal
"Offers fascinating insight. For example, they use the words 'ma' and 'pa' just as we do today." - Metro (UK)
"A fascinating new book reveals how our ancient ancestors spoke. And you'll be astonished by how familiar it all sounds." - The Daily Mail (UK)
This information about Written in Stone was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Christopher Stevens is a writer and journalist. His runaway bestselling mnemonics book Thirty Days Has September hit the number-one reference book spot on Amazon. Christopher worked at the Observer for fifteen years before moving to the Daily Mail. He lives in London.
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