[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.]
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This book has a very boring cover, but we have a saying in English: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Say WhAt is a very easy to approach book about the history of the English language. It contains many pictures, maps, and short quizzes. It is also written in very friendly English, so despite the boring cover, it is actually easy to recommend this book to students studying English.
Most chapters are very short—about five pages, including pictures and diagrams. Each chapter introduces a stage in the history of English or a topic related to how the language has changed. This structure also makes it easy to start with any chapter you are interested in, instead of having to start with chapter 1. There are also many examples of how English is related to other languages. This can be helpful when studying new vocabulary.
My two cents: If you are interested in language or history, I can easily recommend this book. Because of the short chapters, it is also a good choice for close reading (精読) instead of extensive reading (多読).
