The Babel Message: A Love Letter to Language - Softcover

Kahn-Harris, Keith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1785788957 ISBN 13: 9781785788956

Verlag: Icon Books, 2022

Inhaltsangabe

'Quite simply, and quite ridiculously, one of the funniest and most illuminating books I have ever read. I thought I was obsessive, but Keith Kahn-Harris is playing a very different sport. He really has discovered the whole world in an egg.' Simon Garfield

'There is a delicious humour implicit in every page . . . [the book] is filled with a sense of wonder, gazing at languages that neither the writer nor reader understands . . . The Babel Message was such fun that I even went out and bought a Kinder Surprise Egg.' - Mark Forsyth, The Spectator

A thrilling journey deep into the heart of language, from a rather unexpected starting point.

Keith Kahn-Harris is a man obsessed with something seemingly trivial - the warning message found inside Kinder Surprise eggs:

WARNING, read and keep: Toy not suitable for children under 3 years. Small parts might be swallowed or inhaled.

On a tiny sheet of paper, this message is translated into dozens of languages - the world boiled down to a multilingual essence. Inspired by this, the author asks: what makes 'a language'? With the help of the international community of language geeks, he shows us what the message looks like in Ancient Sumerian, Zulu, Cornish, Klingon - and many more. Along the way he considers why Hungarian writing looks angry, how to make up your own language, and the meaning of the heavy metal umlaut.

Overturning the Babel myth, he argues that the messy diversity of language shouldn't be a source of conflict, but of collective wonder. This is a book about hope, a love letter to language.

'This is a wonderful book. A treasure trove of mind-expanding insights into language and humanity encased in a deliciously quirky, quixotic quest. I loved it. Warning: this will keep you reading.' - Ann Morgan, author of Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Keith Kahn-Harris is a sociologist and writer. He combines freelance writing with an academic teaching and research career. The Babel Message is his seventh book. His website is kahn-harris.org. He lives in London.

KEITH KAHN-HARRIS is a sociologist and writer. He combines freelance writing with an academic teaching and research career. The Babel Message is his seventh book. His website is kahn-harris.org. He lives in London.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Icon Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1785788957
• ISBN 13: 9781785788956
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 303
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland