Murder by Death

I listened to this on audio.

Up front, let me state that I thought this book was going to be entirely about how the English language evolved in the United States since the revolution.  It is, but only marginally.  It's much more a short history of the USA's short history, with the evolution of words, terms, idioms or neologisms worked into the timeline.  

I was fine with this one I readjusted my expectations, but the first couple of chapters and my expectations sort of clashed.  Once I adjusted, I enjoyed it quite a bit, as I usually do with all of Bill Bryson's writing.  I appreciate his humour and his attempt at cultural balance and I feel like when he doesn't know something (or other sources don't) he just says it - he doesn't try to bluster his way through.

I didn't give the book a higher rating, because as an audio book, this one isn't the greatest.  The narrator does a great job but the text itself doesn't always lend itself to reading out loud:  Bryson uses a LOT of word lists and I just couldn't stay tuned in - my mind wandered.  There are a lot of parts of this book I'm going to have to go back to and read in print form because I just tuned out when the lists started up.

If you're interested in a short and concise history of the USA and how the English language grew with the country, I recommend this one - but maybe read it, and skip the audio version; I think you'll get more out of it.