'More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to...' Only Bill Bryson could make a book about the English language so entertaining. With his boundless enthusiasm and restless eye for the absurd, this is his astonishing tour of English. From its mongrel origins to its status as the world's most-spoken tongue; its apparent simplicity to its deceptive complexity; its vibrant swearing to its uncertain spelling and pronunciation, Bryson covers all this as well as the many curious eccentricities that make it as maddening to learn as it is flexible to use. Bill Bryson's classic "Mother Tongue" is a highly readable and hilarious tale of how English came to be the world's language.

比尔·布莱森 Bill Bryson，当今英语世界非常多产且“最能逗乐”的游记作家之一，诙谐嘲谑的风格堪称一绝。作品包括旅游类随笔、科普著作等，其中《万物简史》《布莱森英语简史》《“小不列颠”札记》《一脚踩进小美国》销量逾百万册，一直雄踞《纽约时报》《泰晤士报》畅 销书榜。 2004年，《万物简史》获得英国皇家学会安万特奖。

布莱森1951年出生于美国艾奥瓦州，21岁起，开始在世界各地旅行。1977年，定居伦敦，自此在英国生活了近二十年，曾任职于《泰晤士报》与《独立报》，同时也为《纽约时报》《国家地理》撰文。 2005—2011年，担任英国杜伦大学校长，且被众多大学授予荣誉学位。 2006年，获得英女王颁发的“不列颠帝国勋章”之殊荣。 2005年，设立布莱森奖，以鼓励科学创新的青少年。 个人网站 http://www.billbryson.co.uk/