Proto by Laura Spinney #
Proto: How One Acient Language Went Global by Laura Spinney (audio). This book is about as work-adjacent as I’d like my pleasure readingErrr, listening. to get. That being said, being a linguistics professor with zero degrees in linguistics does leave certain holes in my educational background. While I know the very broad contours of proto-indo-european,I happily knew this as the answer to a $1000 Jeopardy clue that stumped the contestants. historical linguistics is an area where I’ve lacked formal training. While this book is not formal training, it does a very nice job at summarizing and synthesizing the state of the art from historical linguistics, archaeology, and the relatively recent genetic breakthroughs in ancient human DNADavid Reich’s book Who We Are and How We Got Here has been on my list since listening to him on the Dwarkesh podcast. to tell a story about pre-historic human migration to/from the Steppe and how the PIE languages trace and inform those patterns. Engaging and certainly of interest to anyone interested in the human condition, not just linguists with impostor syndrome. Grade: B+