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I picked this book up from a Little Free Library knowing nothing about it and never having heard about it. Thank goodness I did. I've always loved words and old reference books. As a kid, using the dictionary was one of my favorite things to do. Still today, I look up words while reading all the time. Word by Word taught me more about how a dictionary is created than I ever thought there was to know about the process. But more than that, it taught me more about words and their use than any other education or book has. I can write. I can read. I can look up. Now I understand why words like "a" "to" "for" and the like are so useful. Plus, and not to be overlooked, Kory Stamper is a wonderful writer. She moves from humorous to serious in a breath and does both with elegance. She is a joy to read.

Best book I've read by Stephenson in awhile. Like since Diamond Age. His early books were actual techno thrillers. As he's gotten older he seems to have settled into writing books that include a LOT more description than is absolutely necessary. This is one of those. However, for me, this one isn't as deadly as Seveneves which I gave up on. (That book's premise made it sound as if I'd love it but the pace was deadly.)

This book is set just far enough in the future that we are not there yet, but it's pretty clear that we will be. If not in the specific details, the general idea is spot on.

The characters are solid and interesting. I wanted to read about them which is what made the excess of description ok. That said, if I hadn't been stuck at home with Covid right as I started this, I might have lost the thread due to lack of time. There's a good 150 pages that could be cut right out of this book and we'd never miss it.