Proto

‘Thought-provoking … A lively and fascinating account of how these languages split from their root, developed in different ways, mingled with each other, crossed tracks, flourished and died. I loved it!’

David Bellos, author of Is That a Fish in your Ear?

‘Formidably researched but lightly written, I put down this book with the pleasurable sense that the world around me had become a little stranger and richer.’

Helen Gordon, author of Notes from Deep Time

‘Superb. With style and panache, Laura Spinney tells a truly extraordinary detective story.’

Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything

‘Spinney charts an extraordinary journey through human history with words as a compass. It is a sweeping story beautifully told. Profound and illuminating.’

Moudhy Al-Rashid, author of Between Two Rivers

‘This beautifully researched and written book is about far more than language; it is a history of the world in microcosm, drawing together a diversity of subjects from genetics and religion to warfare and boozing. I highly recommend this wholly absorbing book.’

Douglas Preston, author of #1 New York Times bestselling The Lost City of the Monkey God

‘Proto is a real detective story told with a compelling combination of academic rigour, human interest, vivid description, and personal biography. A tour de force.’

David Crystal, author of A Date with Language

‘Hooray for a book where the author’s curiosity, diligence, and literary craft gets it all down – the language, the archaeology, the DNA – in what will stand as the go-to source for a generation at least.’

John McWhorter, author of New York Times bestselling Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter

‘Laura Spinney’s erudite and highly entertaining text is full of refreshing new insights as she tells the fascinating and romantic story of this dialect that spread across the world.’

Professor Peter Trudgill FBA

Laura Spinney is a science journalist and writer. She is the author of the celebrated Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World. Her writing on science has appeared in National Geographic, Nature, The Guardian and The Atlantic, among others. Born in the UK, she lives in Paris.