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Proto
How One Ancient Language Went Global
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Check link for latest rating. ( 1,178 ratings, 182 reviews)
Brief Description
The fascinating story of ancient words … new revelations await The Guardian A magisterial feat New Statesman ________________________________ One ancient language transformed our world. This is its story. Star. Stjarna. Stare. Thousands of miles apart, people look up at the night sky and use the same...
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Format: Paperback / softback
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'The fascinating story of ancient words … new revelations await' The Guardian
'A magisterial feat' New Statesman
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A New History of Our Ancient Past, From the Author of the International Bestseller Pale Rider
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Description
The fascinating story of ancient words … new revelations await The Guardian
A magisterial feat New Statesman
________________________________
One ancient language transformed our world. This is its story.
Star. Stjarna. Stare. Thousands of miles apart, people look up at the night sky and use the same word to describe what they see.
Listen to these English, Icelandic and Iranic words and you can hear echoes of one of the most extraordinary journeys in humanity’s past. All three of these languages – and hundreds more – share a single ancient ancestor.
Five millennia ago, in a mysterious Big Bang of its own, this proto tongue exploded, forming new worlds as it spread east and west. Today, nearly half of humanity speaks an Indo-European language. How did this happen?
In Proto, acclaimed journalist Laura Spinney sets off to find out. With her, we travel the length of the steppe, navigating the Caucasus, the Silk Roads, and the Hindu Kush. We follow in the footsteps of nomads and monks, Amazon warriors and lion kings – the ancient peoples who spread these tongues far and wide.
In the present, Spinney meets the linguists, archaeologists, and geneticists racing to recover this lost world. What they have discovered has vital lessons for our modern age, as people and their languages are on the move again.
Proto is a revelatory portrait of world history in its own words.
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Lively and fascinating. I loved it David Bellos, author of Is That a Fish in your Ear?
A truly extraordinary detective story Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780008626532
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 24 April 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: William Collins
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 30.0mm
Width: 153.0mm
Height: 234.0mm
Weight: 420g
Pages: 352
About the Author
Laura Spinney is a science journalist and writer. She is the author of the celebrated Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World. Her writing on science has appeared in National Geographic, Nature, The Guardian and The Atlantic, among others. Born in the UK, she lives in Paris.
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A GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN, PROSPECT AND WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2025 'The fascinating story of ancient words … new revelations await' The Guardian 'A magisterial feat' New Scientist ________________________________ One ancient language transformed our world. This is its story. Star. Stjarna. Stare. Thousands of miles apart, people look up at the night sky and use the same word to describe...Paperback$3500Unit price /UnavailableOut 1 Sep 2026Pre-order -
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