An elegant intellectual thriller . . . A model of popular-science writing in its imperturbable, reasonable weighing of competing ideas . . . [A] fascinating story in its own right -- Steven Poole ? GuardianPopular science of the highest order. All the necessary ingredients are there: a well-read author, an educational mindset and good, fluent prose. ? Svenska DagbladetA formidable educational journey . . . This is the book the linguists have needed for so long. ? ExpressenJohansson writes with enthusiasm and a desire to impart his knowledge . . . The delight is contagious. ? SpråktidningenA fascinating overview of human language ? Smålandsposten Biografía del autor

SVERKER JOHANSSON, Doctor of Philosophy in Physics and Master of Philosophy in Linguistics, was born 1961 in Lund, southern Sweden. He is a senior advisor at Dalarna University, has conducted research at CERN in Switzerland and participated in EVOLANG, the leading international conference for research on the origins and evolution of language, since 2006. Through a bot that he programmed, Lsjbot, Johansson is behind an estimated 8% of all articles on Swedish Wikipedia, covering everything from fungi to municipalities in the Philippines.

FRANK PERRY's translations have won the Swedish Academy Prize for the introduction of Swedish literature abroad and the prize of the Writer's Guild of Sweden for drama translation. His translation of Lina Wolff's Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs was the 2017 winner of the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize, and was awarded the triennial Bernard Shaw Prize for best literary translation from Swedish.