Mother Tongue, Bill BrysonHow did English, 'treated for centuries as the inadequate and second rate tongue of peasants' become the undisputed global language? How did words like shampoo, sofa and rowdy (and others drawn from over fifty languages) find their way into our dictionary? In this revealing and often hilarious book, Bill Bryson examines the mother tongue and explores the countless varieties of English and the perils of marketing brands with names like Pschitt and

Without betraying the truth of what happened

With surprising consequences

And he decides to take his own life

Everyone needs to communicate well to succeed in business

its future posing one of the great questions for the twenty-first century as it grapples with enormous internal challenges

Day and night his Long Island mansion buzzes with bright young things drinking

unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives

'Once they are aroused

she begins to suspect that all might not be quite as it seems at Hare House

encouraged women to “sit at the table

and from public moments of international recognition to private moments of intimacy and despair

A moving account of extinction