History of Language
1. 
The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language
by:
John McWhorter
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,186 ratings 2. 
What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves 3.75 avg rating — 1,746 ratings
5. 
The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language
by:
Mark Forsyth
4.23 avg rating — 12,064 ratings 5. 
Words on the Move: Why English Won't—and Can't—Sit Still
by:
John McWhorter
4.14 avg rating — 1,919 ratings 7. 
In the Land of Invented Languages: Adventures in Linguistic Creativity, Madness, and Genius
by:
Arika Okrent
4.10 avg rating — 2,943 ratings 
9. 
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
by:
David W. Anthony
3.99 avg rating — 3,774 ratings 
11. 
The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
by:
Steven Pinker
4.01 avg rating — 22,310 ratings 11. 
Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages
by:
Guy Deutscher
3.91 avg rating — 7,176 ratings 13. 
The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention
by:
Guy Deutscher
4.22 avg rating — 3,979 ratings 14. 
Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language
by:
Emma Byrne
3.48 avg rating — 2,011 ratings 15. 
16. 
Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It
by:
Gabriel Wyner
4.08 avg rating — 12,319 ratings 16. 
Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World 4.23 avg rating — 3,986 ratings
19. 
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
by:
John McWhorter
3.83 avg rating — 7,107 ratings 
21. 
Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World
by:
Nicholas Ostler
4.06 avg rating — 3,056 ratings 22. 
The Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language
by:
Mark Forsyth
3.95 avg rating — 2,506 ratings 23. 
26. 
Divided by a Common Language: A Guide to British and American English 3.66 avg rating — 154 ratings
27. 
A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi: Words We Pinched From Other Languages
by:
Chloe Rhodes
3.59 avg rating — 253 ratings 
27. 
The Word Detective: Searching for the Meaning of It All at the Oxford English Dictionary
by:
John Simpson
3.84 avg rating — 468 ratings 27. 
The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization
by:
Martin Puchner
3.92 avg rating — 1,840 ratings 
27. 
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
by:
Simon Winchester
3.84 avg rating — 120,604 ratings 
34. 
Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything
by:
David Bellos
3.77 avg rating — 2,759 ratings 34. 
How Language Began: Gesture and Speech in Human Evolution
by:
David McNeill
4.40 avg rating — 5 ratings 37. 
The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language
by:
Melvyn Bragg
3.94 avg rating — 5,091 ratings 37. 
The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English
by:
Henry Hitchings
3.71 avg rating — 540 ratings 39. 
Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners
by:
Michael Erard
3.54 avg rating — 1,472 ratings 39. 
Passwords to Paradise: How Languages Have Re-invented World Religions
by:
Nicholas Ostler
3.64 avg rating — 42 ratings 39. 
The Lexicographer's Dilemma: The Evolution of "Proper" English, from Shakespeare to South Park
by:
Jack Lynch
4.05 avg rating — 672 ratings 
42. 
Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal Language
by:
Esther Schor
3.65 avg rating — 183 ratings 42. 
Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States
by:
Bill Bryson
3.92 avg rating — 15,800 ratings 45. 
How to Learn Any Language: Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and on Your Own
by:
Barry Farber
3.80 avg rating — 861 ratings 
47. 
Wordcatcher: An Odyssey into the World of Weird and Wonderful Words
by:
Phil Cousineau
3.57 avg rating — 185 ratings 47. 
Written in Stone: A Journey Through the Stone Age and the Origins of Modern Language 3.25 avg rating — 197 ratings
50. 
Words in Time and Place: Exploring Language Through the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary
by:
David Crystal
3.96 avg rating — 49 ratings 51. 
From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages
by:
Michael Adams
3.67 avg rating — 183 ratings 51. 
The Emoji Code: The Linguistics Behind Smiley Faces and Scaredy Cats
by:
Vyvyan Evans
3.34 avg rating — 124 ratings 
53. 
The Loom of Language: An Approach to the Mastery of Many Languages
by:
Frederick Bodmer
4.18 avg rating — 387 ratings 55. 
The Illustrated Book of Sayings: Curious Expressions from Around the World 4.09 avg rating — 670 ratings
57. 
Will's Words: How William Shakespeare Changed the Way You Talk
by:
Jane Sutcliffe
4.21 avg rating — 424 ratings 58. 
From Skedaddle to Selfie: Words of the Generations
by:
Allan A. Metcalf
3.47 avg rating — 49 ratings 59. 
Sequoyah and His Talking Leaves: A Play about the Cherokee Syllabary
by:
Wim Coleman
3.52 avg rating — 23 ratings 
61. 
Spell It Out: The Curious, Enthralling and Extraordinary Story of English Spelling
by:
David Crystal
3.95 avg rating — 883 ratings 
64. 
Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling
by:
David Wolman
3.62 avg rating — 301 ratings 
66. 
There's a Word for It: The Explosion of the American Language Since 1900
by:
Sol Steinmetz
3.66 avg rating — 32 ratings 67. 
Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World
by:
Nataly Kelly
3.81 avg rating — 772 ratings 68. 
The Last Speakers: The Quest to Save the World's Most Endangered Languages 3.87 avg rating — 450 ratings