The Adventure of English cover art

The Adventure of English

The Biography of a Language

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The Adventure of English

By: Melvyn Bragg
Narrated by: Robert Powell
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About this listen

This is the remarkable story of the English language; from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language.

The Adventure of English is not only an enthralling story of power, religion, and trade, but also the story of people, and how their lives continue to change the extraordinary language that is English.

©2003 Melvyn Bragg (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Communication & Social Skills Personal Development Words, Language & Grammar Middle Ages

Critic Reviews

"Both entertaining and informative." (Booklist)
"This 'biography' succeeds in its broad, sweeping narrative." (Publishers Weekly)
All stars
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I learned quite a bit from this one. Not a difficult book to read. Gives you a good understanding of what has gone into making the language we have today. I'll treasure it all the more now that I understand what it's been through.

A must read if you're interested in the language.

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I loved the book and even had the DVD of the TV series. Really enjoyed listening to this book while doing my COVID walks each day.

Informative and well written

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This is an amazing account of the story of my language. I recommend this to everyone
who has the ability to think.

incredible story

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Everyone who speaks English must find their place in Bragg's Adventure. The breadth and scope of this journey spanning over 1700 years is breath-taking.

Masterful eloquent and immensely entertaining.

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it is fascinating to hear how the language has grown from the earliest time. I say hear because if I read it, I would be unable to pronounce it. However I have one correction that I do know, in the Australian section, the reader speaks of the Macquarie Dictionary - an interesting volume, and pronounces it MAC-COR-RIE, we have never said that. It is said MAC-CWO - REE that is for the person the river, the area and the book.

an excellent history

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Loved this book and the history of the English language and how some words came about. Not something I would normally listen to but really liked it.

Very interesting

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If you could sum up The Adventure of English in three words, what would they be?

History, Culture, Fun

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Adventure of English?

The whole thing

What does Robert Powell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

He has a lovely reading voice so it was a pleasure to listen.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, but I smiled a lot.

Any additional comments?

A fascinating study for anyone interested in the English language in all its maddening contradiction and supreme flexibility.

A Wonderful Adenture

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Exceptionally well presented.
Can't imagin how one could get as much out of the book as text as the pronunciations and accents are essential to the understanding.
Shame the technical Chaptering is s total fail ... but thats another thing.

illuminating and entertaining

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Great history lesson from the perspective of language, I really enjoyed this book interestingly enough. The narrator was fantastic and his examples of how the different accents and dialects sound were incredible! Something you miss out on if you read the book.

Great story with fantastic narrator

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Worth it if you are interested in the topic, primarily because of the evocative reading

Interesting and amazingly performed

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