Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am a big Bill Bryson fan, I often say that the guy can write about anything and make it interesting. This book is an exception to that rule. Although Amazon lists a 2015 publication date for the Kindle edition, this is clearly a much older book (most of the references and examples seem to be no more recent than the mid-80s) and seems to be one of Bryson's earliest publications. It lacks his usual superior scholarship combined with wit and clarity. I am not a linguistic expert as some reviewers here, but even I can detect that a lot of this is oversimplified, apocryphal, or simply wrong. Much of the book follows a pattern of making a statement about some foible of English followed by a long (often repetitive) list of examples. This does not really add up to either enlightenment or entertainment. It would be a good subject for Bryson to revisit with a more rigorous and accurate approach.