what I'd give for a cubicle...

The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way
You'd think that starting out at the bottom of the corporate ladder would invariably land me amidst a sea of cubicles. Unfortunately, this is not the case for me. Instead, we have tables - big, open, expansive tables - that fully expose us to all the members of upper management that happen to stroll by. There is no hiding.

I'm sure many of you are thinking, Gee, it must be so hard to secretly surf the internet. In fact, it isn't. Yes, I possess an iron constitution, but, like the Soviet newspapers of the Cold War, there are only about three websites that aren't blocked and they all say the same thing. I could continue to vent my frustration over this point, but what I'm trying to say is that I sit at work and think about how I want to read Bill Bryson's book instead of actually getting to do so.

That's my pitiful excuse for the lack of progress I've made, but I'll tell you what I know thus far. I'm about 40 pages in, and I can tell you it's good. It's subject matter that I wouldn't normally investigate and, in that sense, it is refreshing. It's surprisingly historical in nature (so far). I'm learning about the development of language within homo sapien and it isn't close to being as overwhelming as you'd think.

The last time I encountered this type of history in a book was in Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, and as much as I found his thesis fascinating, parts of the book became too mentally draining for me to continue on. (Yes, Guns, Germs, and Steel sits on my bookshelf in a decorative capacity.) At first, I was slightly worried the same thing would happen here, but Bryson clearly knows his audience, and it probably also helps that he's not after a Pulitzer. He reminds me much of one of my favorite professors in college who, with uncanny ability, taught through widly funny lectures masquerading as conversations. It was only after I left the lecture hall that it dawned on me that I had actually learned something.

If you're interested in the book, here's an excerpt for you to peruse.