July 2025 Book Reviews
Original: July 2025 Book Reviews on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1: A bearded man with red/orange hair leans over a wall, holding a book labeled "A BOOK". Man: "HEY GEEKS, WE'RE TRYING OUT A NEW THING. FOR YEARS, ON PATREON, I'VE BEEN DOING BOOK REVIEWS ABOUT ONCE A MONTH IN OUR QUEST TO REDUCE RELIANCE ON ADS. WE ARE NOW DOING REVIEWS WITH AFFILIATE LINKS."
Panel 2: The same man, now holding another book labeled "A BOOK PART 2". Man: "IF YOU CLICK ON THIS COMIC, YOU'LL GET MY FULL SET OF MONTHLY BOOK REVIEWS FOR FREE. I'LL ALSO BE LISTING MY TWO FAVORITE READS THIS MONTH HERE AND THEY ARE..."
Panel 3: The cover of a book titled "PROTO: HOW ONE ANCIENT LANGUAGE WENT GLOBAL" by LAURA SPINNEY.
Text beside it: "PROTO: HOW ONE ANCIENT LANGUAGE WENT GLOBAL, BY LAURA SPINNEY"
"A DELIGHTFULLY THOROUGH HISTORY AND PRE-HISTORY OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT PROTOINDO-EUROPEAN, THE ANCESTOR LANGUAGE OF ENGLISH, HINDI, SPANISH, RUSSIAN, FRENCH, PERSIAN, GREEK, LATIN, AND MANY MANY MORE."
Panel 4: The cover of a book titled "PRONOUN TROUBLE" by JOHN MCWHORTER, with large faded text reading "Me? They? Who??" behind it.
Text beside it: "PRONOUN TROUBLE: THE STORY OF US IN SEVEN LITTLE WORDS, BY JOHN MCWHORTER"
"A SHORT BOOK ON THE HISTORY AND USE OF PRONOUNS, AND HOW CURRENT CONTROVERSIES ARE MUCH MORE CONTINUOUS WITH PAST USAGE THAN YOU MIGHT IMAGINE."
Panel 5: The bearded man again. Man: "I PROMISE THEY WON'T ALWAYS BE ONLY LANGUAGE BOOKS. THESE WERE JUST UNUSUALLY GOOD."
Panel 6: A final note panel. "IF YOU HAVE ANY REQUESTS OR SUGGESTIONS PLEASE POST THEM ON PATREON" "THANKS FOR READING WITH ME!"
Panel 2: The same man, now holding another book labeled "A BOOK PART 2". Man: "IF YOU CLICK ON THIS COMIC, YOU'LL GET MY FULL SET OF MONTHLY BOOK REVIEWS FOR FREE. I'LL ALSO BE LISTING MY TWO FAVORITE READS THIS MONTH HERE AND THEY ARE..."
Panel 3: The cover of a book titled "PROTO: HOW ONE ANCIENT LANGUAGE WENT GLOBAL" by LAURA SPINNEY.
Text beside it: "PROTO: HOW ONE ANCIENT LANGUAGE WENT GLOBAL, BY LAURA SPINNEY"
"A DELIGHTFULLY THOROUGH HISTORY AND PRE-HISTORY OF WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT PROTOINDO-EUROPEAN, THE ANCESTOR LANGUAGE OF ENGLISH, HINDI, SPANISH, RUSSIAN, FRENCH, PERSIAN, GREEK, LATIN, AND MANY MANY MORE."
Panel 4: The cover of a book titled "PRONOUN TROUBLE" by JOHN MCWHORTER, with large faded text reading "Me? They? Who??" behind it.
Text beside it: "PRONOUN TROUBLE: THE STORY OF US IN SEVEN LITTLE WORDS, BY JOHN MCWHORTER"
"A SHORT BOOK ON THE HISTORY AND USE OF PRONOUNS, AND HOW CURRENT CONTROVERSIES ARE MUCH MORE CONTINUOUS WITH PAST USAGE THAN YOU MIGHT IMAGINE."
Panel 5: The bearded man again. Man: "I PROMISE THEY WON'T ALWAYS BE ONLY LANGUAGE BOOKS. THESE WERE JUST UNUSUALLY GOOD."
Panel 6: A final note panel. "IF YOU HAVE ANY REQUESTS OR SUGGESTIONS PLEASE POST THEM ON PATREON" "THANKS FOR READING WITH ME!"
Alt text
A vertical SMBC comic in which a bearded red-haired man announces a new monthly book-review feature using affiliate links, promising readers his full set of reviews for free if they click. He highlights two favorite reads of the month, each shown as a book cover. The first is "Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global" by Laura Spinney, described as a thorough history of Proto-Indo-European, the ancestor of English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, French, Persian, Greek, Latin and more. The second is "Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words" by John McWhorter (with "Me? They? Who??" faded behind the cover), a short book on the history of pronouns showing that current controversies are more continuous with past usage than one might imagine. He reassures readers the picks won't always be language books, then closes by inviting requests on Patreon and thanking readers for reading with him.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.