P. H. Matthews (1934–2023)

Matthews uses the Very Short Introduction format creatively to get us to ask ourselves some deep questions about what human language is, how it comes to be, and what it might look like to someone — e.g. the hypothetical alien visitor — who comes from a background where human language is not used. He’s also very good at keeping us out of the denser thickets of detail that linguistics is prone to whilst explaining the scientific concepts behind the study of how languages have developed in time and how syntax and semantics work, by being ruthlessly efficient in his use of examples. As with most of the books in this series, the objective seems to be to give the reader enough information to hold an intelligent conversation with a colleague who works in that field, but it is also probably useful if you are someone who has strayed into the field from time to time in the past, but has never studied it formally. And of course it comes with a useful reading list to take you on into the subject itself.… (more)

This is my first time reading a book from the Very Short Introductions series, and I will definitely pick up a few other's in the same series. It's short, gives you a broad overview of the field of linguistics, and points to places where you can learn more.
Speech is a lot more complicated than I first thought, I have a renewed appreciation for what my mouth does naturally every day. It also raises the question of what separates a language and a dialect of a language, since ultimately most languages have common ancestors.
At the end it recommends some other books to further one's education on linguistics. I'm going to check out a few that sounds interesting.… (more)