Reviews

The Art of Language Invention: From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves, the Words Behind World-Building by David J. Peterson

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falconintherye's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

3.25

definitely don't read it if you don't like linguistics because it can be tedious. I personally found it interesting as I love conlangs and I love asoiaf/got even more :) dothraki>high valyrian btw.

emmabeckman's review against another edition

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5.0

I had to read this book for a class, but I honestly loved it a lot. It's an excellent book for people who don't know a lot about linguistics, as DJP does a good job of succinctly explaining the concepts. Therefore, as someone who studies linguistics, it still didn't bog me down in the descriptions. Additionally, DJP was able to pack a lot of information into a relatively short book while still maintaining an excellent sense of humor (I happened to read the "Words" chapter after having a debate about onions with my friends--talk about good timing [@DJP, I agree that onions are the worst]). I would definitely recommend this book to linguists and non-linguists alike. Every time I tell people that I'm reading a book by "the guy who developed Dothraki for Game of Thrones", they get really excited, and your friends will too.

jme985's review against another edition

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4.0

Peterson is incredibly entertaining to listen to. I saw criticism in other reviews that this reads mostly like a linguistics textbook rather than a conlang how-to, but I would rather read this than a textbook of any kind all day. He’s witty and his information is presented in such a way that it feels easily approachable, something that I’m appreciating much more while reading The Language Construction Kit.
The only true criticism I have is that there isn’t a particularly great way to consume the book. The audiobook relies heavily on an accompanying PDF, which is nice, but I also missed any of the tables/charts/written language that he was using in the book itself that I couldn’t get through the audio. Conversely, the paperback book doesn’t have the pronunciation that the audiobook does, making anything phonological much more labor intensive to completely understand. I’m going to opt for both on a reread, just to get all of the information out of it that I can.
Highly recommend to anyone wanting to get into linguistics!

dreahreyna's review against another edition

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informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

4.5

ribbonreuben's review against another edition

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4.0

I really liked this! When I took linguistics in college, I was disappointed in myself with how supremely uninterested I was in the topic. However, this book is engaging and is a fun way to learn linguistics basics!