This is an interesting book that talks about historical, comparative and modern linguistics. Bill Bryson talks a lot about different things in modern linguistics including accents and dialects, the versatility of words and modern issues facing language.

The best part about this book is that you don't have to be a linguist to understand it. It's in terms that all of us can understand without the complicated linguistic jargon. It also talks about grammar and history of it.

Bill Bryson is a good writer. He also wrote a book called A Walk in the Woods. I have read that book as well, and it's pretty good.

I would recommend this book to anyone that would like to learn a bit about historical and comparative linguistics.