 | A Computer-Generated Dictionary of Proto-Algonquian (Mercury Series) by John Hewson
Buy new: $24.95 An effort to recreate the ancestor language to the old Algonquian "indian" languages once spoken throughout much of North America. Similar to trying to recreate Latin from Spanish and French.
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 | Linguistic Reconstruction: An Introduction to Theory and Method (Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics) by Anthony Fox
Buy new: $67.50 / Used from: $19.90 Respect this book. Now.
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 | A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (The Language Library) by David Crystal
Buy new: $34.20 / Used from: $19.47 This could help you to understand the books on this list.
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 | The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth by Ruth S. Noel
Buy new: $10.88 / Used from: $2.49 A lot of fun
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 | An Introduction to Elvish, Other Tongues, Proper Names and Writing Systems of the Third Age of the Western Lands of Middle-Earth as Set Forth in the Published Writings of Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Buy used from: $54.27 A lot of fun.
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 | Research Guide on Language Change (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs)
Buy new: $291.00 / Used from: $80.00 The author of this is extremely highly regarded in the field, not just a hack like me. Listen to what he has to say.
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 | The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots by Joseph Twadell Shipley
Buy new: $27.00 / Used from: $17.78 Amazing, fascinating.
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 | The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots by Calvert Watkins
Buy new: $13.60 / Used from: $5.30 The final authority. Look at Amazon.com's page for this book, don't listen to me.
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| Experimental glottochronology: Basic methods and results (Pacific linguistics) by J. B. M Guy
There is some controversy over whether this is a science, strictly speaking. But hey, if you think you can make it more objective, step up to bat!
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 | Historical Linguistics & Lexicostatistics by Vitaly Shevoroshkin
Buy new: $40.00 Lexicostatistics and glottochronology are techniques of tracing back modern words into prehistory. What were they like, long ago?
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 | Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman: System and Philosophy of Sino-Tibetan Reconstruction by James Alan Matisoff
Buy new: $95.00 / Used from: $73.40 A major language family of early Southeast Asia.
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| Evidence for Old English: Material and Theoretical Bases for Reconstruction (Edinburgh Studies in the English Language, 2)
Buy new: $72.00 / Used from: $85.00 How well do we really undrestand what the composers of Beowulf spoke?
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 | Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary (Voices from Asia) by Christopher Ehret
Buy new: $75.00 / Used from: $49.32 Spoken long ago, somewhere in the Middle East.
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 | Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World's Undeciphered Scripts by Andrew Robinson
Buy used from: $6.80 Really neat.
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 | Breaking the Maya Code by Michael D. Coe
Buy new: $13.57 / Used from: $5.99 Wow.
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 | The Story of Decipherment: From Egyptian Hieroglyphs to Maya Script by Maurice Pope
Buy new: $19.95 / Used from: $6.99 Terrific overview.
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 | The Decipherment of Linear B (Canto) by John Chadwick
Buy new: $19.99 / Used from: $5.73 Fun and neato.
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 | The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone by James Cross Giblin
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $1.51 Fun, and can be read by a younger audience.
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 | Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture : The Text (Trends I) by Thomas V. Gamkrelidze
Buy new: $366.70 / Used from: $224.72 Also look for anything by Calvert Watkins.
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 | The Nostratic Macrofamily & Linguistic Paleontology (Papers in the Prehistory of Languages) by Aharon Dolgopolsky
Buy used from: $195.00 Last I heard, this was still somewhat controversial. Research the topic on the internet as well as you can, before buying this. You're on your own.
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 | The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language by John H. McWhorter
Buy new: $11.16 / Used from: $6.73 Terrific overview.
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 | Rongorongo: The Easter Island Script: History, Traditions, Text (Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics, 14) by Steven Roger Fischer
Buy new: $294.56 / Used from: $325.00 the script on Easter Island -- that island with all the old statue/monument things, looking out to sea...
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 | The Mystery of the Hieroglyphs: The Story of the Rosetta Stone and the Race to Decipher Egyptian Hieroglyphs by Carol Donoughue
Buy used from: $93.50 Wow.
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 | Early Germanic Grammar: Pre-, Proto-, and Post-Germanic Languages by Joseph B. Voyles
Buy new: $91.95 / Used from: $100.08 An effort to reconstruct the immediate ancestor language of English.
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| Deciphering the Indus Script by Asko Parpola
Buy used from: $40.21 I haven't seen this book, but the topic is amazing.
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