As a primer and brief introduction to the sublime world of words, of lexicographers and word hounds, this is a nice little book that sits well in the hand. Crystal distils his encyclopaedic knowledge of epistemology into 6 fascinating sections
1. the universe of words, their number and how we learn them
2. the origin of words, their beginnings and construction
3. the diversity of words, worldwide diversity, specialist language, group speak
4. the evolution of words, births, deaths, changes and futures
5. the enjoyment of words, wordplay, word sound and games
6. becoming a word detective, how to take your interest further, further reading and how to estimate your personal wordhoard (vocabulary), both what you use everyday and what you understand but don's use regularly.
A good starting point which left me wanting more.
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