A review by matt_and_cheez
Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages by Gaston Dorren

3.0

Overall I found this book lackluster and not really that remarkable. I did mark a few places with interesting facts and linguistic terms I didn't know before, but as a whole, the book was average. The writing was jarring at times- sometimes Dorren would end the chapter with a profound statement that wasn't entirely expanded on beforehand. I also found his political jabs out of place and for the most part unnecessary. For example, he had to throw in a Trump-Putin reference in the section about Russian, which would have been fine if he was discussing language policies enacted by them, or anything else remotely related to the content besides Putin speaking Russian. I also didn't really like how the content was presented differently across sections- sometimes like an interview, another like a dictionary, and another like a history textbook.

Disappointing to say the least. However, if you know very little about how language works and/or aren't familiar with any of the particular languages spoken about, you will still learn a thing or two.