Lousy book rant

[prosfilaes]

I picked up Lunatic Lovers of Language: Imaginary Languages and their Inventors at the used bookstore because it was there and it's one of the few books about constructed languages in general. The problem is, it annoys the hell out of me; I'm not sure I can actually read the book. Let's start with the title; is anyone particularly draw to a title

Comments

Esperanto and the rest

[billchapman]

I don't mind that this author dedicated space to Esperanto's rivals. However, it ought to be said that these pretenders simply have not reached the widespread use in speech and writing that Esperanto has.

I have used Esperanto a lot on my travels - I am at present in Cameroon - but where would I find a speaker of Novial?

Re: Esperanto and the rest

[prosfilaes]

The author didn't dedicate space to Esperanto's rivals, beyond a few sparse notes here and there. What I would think would be the heart of the issue, Volapuk, the Interlingu[ae]s, Esperanto and Esperantidos on one hand, and the languages of science fiction and fantasy, most notably those of Tolkien, on the other, got virtually no coverage here.

I'd like to note that I deleted another comment here, and thought about deleting yours, too. Comments that charge into advocacy, especially with people who aren't friends, nor seem to be friends of friends, don't make me real happy. (The comment that got deleted was more pure advocacy, and had links, which is why it died and yours didn't.)