Travel medicine Book

Why I felt compelled to start reading an encyclopedia cover-to-cover I can't say, but I'm glad I did with this one. Remarkably lucid and catholic in its consideration of the broad universe of topics relating to language broadly construed (which is to say, pretty much everything from philosophy & theology to archaeology & attempts to enable computers to truly comprehend speech).

I keep it next to my bed and read a chapter every night. The chapters are appropriately sized for their topics, and studded with illustrated sidebars, definitions of technical terms, and illustrative anecdotes & examples. Highly recommended both as a reference and as book to read for pleasure & general enlightenment.