Proto by Laura Spinney

I'm fascinated by linguistics, but this book was a bit of a struggle for me.  I would like to think that the problem was that the book's level of expertise falls too far advanced for the lay person, while also too elementary for the specialist.

But the true problem lies in the fact that I just don't know enough about the topic to fully understand it.  My poor understanding of the geography of central Asia and eastern Europe, in particular, made it difficult to follow at times.  My lack of knowledge of pre-history, in the realm of anthropology, didn't help.

But still, my appreciation for the science of linguistics remains undiminished.  Its ability to track the movement of languages by the movement of people and their cultures (and vice versa) is truly remarkable, a topic I need to explore further as time permits.