I enjoy books that take a topic and show how the work from various disciplines can be used to create a clearer picture of the subject matter. In this case Laura Spinney has pulled together the discoveries of archaeologists, linguists, historians, and even geneticists to describe how the Proto-Indo-European language emerged from its original location in the region of the Black Sea 5,000 years ago and expanded across the world. She explains the way experts look at terms in languages from around the world and extrapolate common root words. She recounts her visits to dig sites and how items unearthed at various locations can help map trade routes and migration patterns that carried the language and its offshoots far and wide. She makes the complex genetic testing done to confirm the movement and intermingling of different groups more understandable to curious lay readers. And she even looks at earlier attempts to identify those migratory patterns and create lexicons of earlier language forms - and show how theories and understanding have evolved over time.
If you have an interest in language and linguistics, history, interdisciplinary studies, or well-written books on fascinating topics, then you should pick up a copy of Proto. I was lucky enough to win a copy in a giveaway by the publisher.
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