摘要：Part-autobiography and part-introduction to the field of linguistics, this book offers a pleasurable, entertaining, informative and inspiring reading experience. It is pleasurable because Crystal is a good writer, weaving the stages of his life with the many stages ofthe growth of linguistics as a discipline in its own right. It is entertaining because he has the skill of a storyteller, capturing and invoking the humorous side of the ridiculous. It is informative in its illustrations of many basic concepts of linguistics. And it inspires with its love of language.
