Gleick has an astonishing way of taking us on an evolutionary journey from tribal beaten languages to the astonishing world of the modern OED dictionary. His analysis of showing us how we've evolved in this ever present internet society from a time when tribes banged out song on drum skins helps us realize how far we've come. Through cuneiform's to written text, Gleick somewhat picks up where Walter Ong left off focusing more on the literal text and not so much exploring the oral means of communicating. There is something vastly identifiable in his book to all of us when comparing where we are now with the use of the internet. The web has expanded our vocabulary in greater leaps than we could imagine and Gleick just begins to scratch the surface in showing us where we've evolved. The new generation of cell phone text messaging youth will bring to the table an entirely new vocabulary developed through their thumb pushing writings and email IM'ing messages. You can already see where this is heading and the thought of what might happen to our well known English dictionary terms and vocabulary is a bit scary but also exciting. His style of writing is interesting and filled with an excitable energy that keeps you captivated while mapping out our literal past in a way that's easy to understand. Looking forward to this journey.
I agree that technology is changing our vocabulary and I am actually glad to see that the Oxford English Dictionary is adapting to that change. Its hard not to judge the way that people are speaking these days, especially for people that loved the English language the way that it was. Change is inevitable, and we might as well embrace it ... LOL
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