I was lucky enough to find this book in a dim corner of Uris Library at Cornell U. As a sf enthusiast with some layman's knowledge of linguistics (mostly from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language), I found it fascinating.

I do wish that someone would write an updated version, since many of the sf stories that Meyers refers to can be hard to find. Also, I found his religious adherence to the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis amusing...but then, I don't know what the accepted viewpoint was in linguistics when he wrote this book.

Definitely worthwhile for people curious about linguistics or about language as portrayed in sf (usually poorly, I'm sorry to say).

Anyone who wants a readable introduction to the subject of contemporary linguistic science should read this book instead of tackling the technical literature. The explanations of linguistics terms and concepts and methods are clear, and the use of science fiction as the source for illustrations and examples makes the material a great read. If I were teaching introductory linguistics today, I'd move heaven and earth to find copies of this book for my students