David J. Peterson

My four star rating is very much based on my own experience of this book -- I think for a conlanger starting out this book is probably a five star resource, for a linguist proper this might drag a bit because it covers a lot of intro-level ground you're probably already familiar with, and for someone expecting this to be more memoirish or quick-and-easy you should readjust your expectations.

I think Peterson makes his intentions quite clear in the book's intro: "This work is a sincere attempt to give new conlangers a place to start by detailing what things I take into account when creating a language." It does read in some places like a textbook, but a well-written and humorous one, and I personally enjoyed a refresher of basic linguistics info in addition to the material that was new to me (the only major section I skipped was the tech walk-through about creating digital fonts). I liked that Peterson draws not only from his own conlangs, but also natural languages and conlangs created by others for his examples. I wish we had gotten even more of the fascinating history of conlangs that was briefly outlined in the intro.

In general I thought the book created a unique and interesting lens through which to view linguistic and orthographic change. Definitely the "case study" gray-edged sections are worth the price of admission alone.… (altro)

If you have any interest in language, do not dismiss this book based on its title. While the fantastical implications may cater to a particular audience, they certainly don’t invalidate the wealth of knowledge contained within The Art of Language Invention.

David Peterson introduces the breadth and depth of linguistics in a light-hearted manner that is surprisingly easy to consume – not an easy task. The book covers many topics including, but not limited to, phonetics, casing, inflections, tenses, voicing, grammar and even orthography. I would highly recommend this book (in part or entirety) to anyone generally interested in language, writing, and especially, language creation (though I’m no conlanger).… (altro)

Would probably be more interesting to someone who's a fan of the Game of Thrones TV show. This should've really been disclosed on the cover as half of the book revolves around and is illustrated by the language the author developed for it. Autobiographical elements aside it's actually intriguing - even to someone like me who's never even considered developing a language.

I was annoyed by the quirky "I'm so random" humour and the recurring onion joke wouldn't be funny even if Stewart Lee did for 2 hours. I hate this trend in non-fiction books. It's as if Bozo the clown was giving a lecture. Do authors not see the incongruity? Sure, I can look past it but why are you doing this?… (altro)