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By Hook or by Crook: A Journey in Search of English
 
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By Hook or by Crook: A Journey in Search of English [Illustrated] (Hardcover)

by David Crystal (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 314 pages
  • Publisher: HarperPress; illustrated edition edition (1 May 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007235585
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007235582
  • Product Dimensions: 22 x 16.2 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 333,230 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Praise for 'The Stories of English': 'A marvellous book!for anyone who loves the English language(s) it will be a treasure-house.' Philip Pullman 'Reads like an adventure story. Which, of course, it is.' Roger McGough 'Rejoices in dialects, argots and cants!enlightening -- in a word, excellent.' Sunday Times 'A spirited celebration!Crystal gives the story of English a new plot.' Guardian 'Simply the best introductory history of the English language family that we have. The plan of the book is ingenious, the writing lively, the exposition clear and the scholarly standard uncompromisingly high.' J.M.Coetzee


Financial Times

'Every page of Crystal's book contains some linguistic curiosity
or flight of fancy.'
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A travel book for those who love words, 16 Jul 2007
By A Common Reader "Committed to reading" (Sussex, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
David Crystal has written an entertaining travelogue of selected part of (mostly) England and Wales. The reader accompanies Crystal as he meanders around various small towns (Haye on Wye, Stratford on Avon etc), finding many interesting places along the way and recounting many tales and anecdotes about place names and other linguistic curiosities. Crystal makes an amusing travel companion, perhaps with similarities to Michael Palin or Richard Bryson, and one gets the impression of a man with a fund of stories who would be a useful talking guide-book on any possible journey around Britain.

Although I enjoyed reading this book, it is difficult to see what happened to the Sebald inspiration claimed by the author. Sebald writes meditative, reflective books which lead the reader into contemplating the big issues of life and death - the actual locations and histories he recounts being almost incidental to the inner state of mind aroused along the way. This book on the other hand is an energetic tour through linguistic highways and byways, with fact after fact piled on in an almost random fashion, making it difficult to see the whole picture. By Hook or By Crook is definitely an entertaining read, but as with so many books about the origins of the English (or any other) language, unless one has a formidable memory for random facts, little of it will remain when the final page has been read. While the derivation of "Lichfield" for example is undoubtedly of passing interest, a week after reading the book I can recall little of it, nor can I quite see why I needed to know in the first place.

I read this book on holiday and it was perfect for picking up and putting down again a few minutes later. It does not demand too much in the way of concentration and would make an excellent gift for anyone with an interest in words and their meanings.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Divergent and entertaining book, 15 Aug 2007
By Bluebell (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
I've read a number of David Crystal's more scholarly books so this one was a surprise. It's a sort of stream of consciousness book by a person on a trip round eastern England and Wales who loves language and its interaction with the history of a country. It's full of interesting facts and observations and is a very enjoyable read. No theme is explored in any depth as the writer's divergent mind flits from one topic to another as his memories and knowledge are triggered by the places and people he visits. It's a book that can be read in snippets as the chapters are largely self-contained.
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars English as she has come to be spoke, 5 April 2009
By Michael Waghorne "Mike Waghorne" (Bretagne) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
A rather idiosyncratic book but really interesting if you are interested in the history of Engish words.
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