The Miracle of Language

A series of insightful essays ponders the origins, successes, and pitfalls of the English language

YA--This latest collection by the noted verbalist sparkles like a gem. It is finely polished, well crafted, and certain to de light. Readers are invited to ponder if our mother tongue is indeed prejudiced. The misuse of redundant words and how new words are born are also ex plored. On a deeper level, beyond the wit and bouyancy, Lederer shows that words are not just used to engage but also to instruct. This collection of essays is a treasure and should be cherished by all who open it.
-Mary I. Quinn, Fair fax County Public Library, George Ma son Regional, Annandale, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this collection of entertaining and enlightening essays, Lederer ( Anguished English ) celebrates language as "incomparably the finest of our achievements" and passes along some eloquent testimony on the emancipating power of language in the lives of Helen Keller, Richard Wright, Malcolm X, Anne Frank. Also appraised are the contributions of other writers who, "sculpting significance from the air, have changed the world by changing the word." The first of these is William Shakespeare, whom Lederer identifies as the most prolific word-maker who ever lived (the Bard, it turns out, invented at least 10% of his vocabulary). Next is Samuel Johnson who, with his breakthrough dictionary, captured the majesty of English and gave it a dignity long overdue. Others include Ambrose Bierce, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, George Orwell. A delightful and edifying collection. BOMC and QPB alternates.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

New England schoolmaster, columnist, and bestselling author Lederer (Crazy English, 1989) offers an enthusiastic new assemblage in tribute to language generally and the English kind in particular. Sounding in turn like D'Israeli the Elder on curiosities of literature, William Targ on bibliomania, H.L. Mencken on words, or William Lutz on doublespeak, Lederer compiles a scrapbook that preaches, naturally, to those who are devoted to the wonder of words aggregated. There are tributes to heroes of our tongue: Shakespeare, Johnson (with incursions by Bierce and other witty lexicographers), Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, and George Orwell. In terms of one syllable, Lederer proves the power of short words. They can, he says, ``make a straight point between two minds,'' which seems a little hard to do, but you get the line. English isn't perfect, however: It's sexist (queens do not rule queendoms), lacks certain utilitarian words (what will we call the decade that will follow the Nineties?), and lends itself to redundant repetition, too, as Lederer cheerfully illustrates and shows. He likes libraries and letter-writing (citing St. Paul as a great correspondent). There's even a lesson in versification and examples of favored writing from his prep- school students. The text concludes with a few hundred pithy comments on words by practitioners from Aristophanes to Wittgenstein. A golly-gee skimming of the manifest wonders of ``the most glorious of all human inventions,'' not deep but easygoing enough to satisfy Lederer's legion of fans. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.