Oh, if I could say the number of times I shouted "what?" while reading this book...you'd best believe it was at every knew nugget of information that I learned.
This makes for the times we wonder who thought of that phrase, how did it come to be and how did it pass down to all generations?
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the free Kindle book. My review is voluntarily given, and my opinions are my own.

References to the Daleks in a book about the English language, alongside mentions of Dickens, Tolkien, and the Oxford English Dictionary. I don't know about the general population, but I do know that many people would agree that Doctor Who is amazing.

I really loved this book. There were so many interesting things about the English language, like different Victorian games, slang, and how Shakespeare influenced language. I especially loved all of the illustrations that were included on pretty much every page. However, the name of the illustrator is not mentioned. Is the author the illustrator? Even before AI, publishers didn't always include the name of the illustrator (which was ridiculous), probably because they had to pay more if the name was on the book, but they need to include it now. How do I know it isn't AI generated if they don't include the name? This isn't me accusing them of it being AI. This is telling the publisher to include the illustrator's name because I check every single time and do a deep dive on the internet trying to find it.

Definitely would recommend this book!

Crystal's Curiosity Cabinet by David Crystal is a fun and informative book that is a bit addictive.

If you love language, English in this case, and both its quirks and its games, then you'll love this book.I intended to read a couple entries at a time and make it last longer. For the most part I failed, but with wonderful results. Some of the entries highlight word games that were once popular. Well, I couldn't just enjoy reading about them and the examples cited, I had to try my hand. Some were just plain fun to do, mildly challenging but not brain racking. Some were definitely more challenging, which made them even more fun.

You'll be surprised how much you'll learn and how many other things you'll think of while reading and have to look up yourself. Any book that encourages a reader to think beyond what is in the book and do some (very low level) research has succeeded as far as I'm concerned.

Definitely for any language and linguistics lovers, and this would also be a nice book to keep on an end table or at least within easy reach for when you have company and you're sitting around. This is also ideal for those readers who like to have a book with short entries for when you can't read for a long time or, perhaps, at bedtime when you don't want to dive back into a longer book.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

This was a really well done nonfiction book in this, it had that writing style that I was looking for and was engaged from start to finish. David Crystal was able to write something interesting and thought it was a great concept of the English language.

An eclectic book of linguistic facts I would have never known before, This is the kind of book you can pick up and flip through and find some interesting and random tidbit that you’d never though of before. I like that it had easy, short, comprehensible entires about all kinds of topics. I found the anagrams the most interesting.

I’m a predictable soul. I see a book of interesting miscellany, and I pick it up! And I’m glad I did. David Crystal, a linguist, has turned 150+ random observations about weird words and witty expressions into something delightful: a cabinet of curiosities for language enthusiasts!

Each entry reveals how language shapes our global, national, and historical landscapes, with a perfect balance of scholarly depth and accessible charm. I loved the series on Charles Dickens’ ‘voice portraits!’ It’s quirky without being pretentious, educational without being dry.

It’s a book you keep close by and dig into whenever you need a fun idea (or three!)

Language builds bridges between cultures and ideas. And this book knows that to be true.

Overall this book had some very good parts, including the discussion of collective nouns, Dickens' voice portraits and COVID lockdown terms. These were excellent and highly amusing. But by-and-large, I found the book to not be very informative, with uninspiring writing. Thank you to Netgalley and Chambers for the advance reader copy.