Language is like a vast interconnected spider's web. In this volume Jean Aitchison explores the different facets of this web, ranging from its biological nature and the way in which language is acquired by children to the way the web has aided language evolution. This is the text of the 1996 BBC Reith lectures, with the addition of illustrations, suggestions for further reading and notes. An Afterword looks at the reception of the lectures.

The Triumph of Technology is taken from Lord Alec Broers' 2005 BBC Reith Lectures on the role and importance of technology in our lives. The lectures discuss the way technology has shaped life since the beginnings of civilization, explaining how we owe to technologists most of what drives our world today, how technologies develop, and the excitement of the modern creative process. There are some who believe that technology's future development should be controlled, and that it may already have gone too far, especially in areas such as the use of energy - something which has the potential to...