I rank Fischer with Pinkner and Crystal as one of those gifted writers whicn can make an onerous topic understandable by anyone.



I was particularly interested in the 2nd chapter, on the development of language into humans and its comparison with the communication abilities of other animals and in particular our close cousins the apes.



The rest of the book gives a clear, succinct and comprehensible overview of the field of linguistics.



A great read for anyone with a general interest in linguistics!