Previously published by Profile Books, London, 2012

Presents a history of English spelling through chapters that cover such topics as the introduction of the Roman alphabet, each letter's origins, and the development of long and short vowels

Nature of the problem: Pooh and his friends on spelling -- Beginning -- Size of the problem -- Building the alphabet: letter origins -- Basic weaknesses: hope for us all -- Keeping things long: more than letters -- Keeping things short: spelling as tragedy -- First exceptions -- Seeing the link: forensic spelling -- Know your Latin and French: spelling as reputation -- New letters for the old -- Old letters in new words: Tarzan learns to read -- Old sounds in new positions: spelling as stratagem -- New sounds in old places -- More exceptions: avoiding the vulgar -- Showing the difference: Charles Dickens and his characters reflect upon spelling -- Noting the similarity: silent letters -- New sounds in old letters -- A printer's practice: Mark Twain on spelling -- Urge to reform: George Bernard Shaw on spelling -- Remembering Latin -- More etymologies: a word I always mispell -- Famous spellings -- Spelling 'rules': Mrs Malaprop on reading and spelling -- Role of personalities -- Another personality -- Printers and publishers: spelling wars -- Changing practices: Roger McGough on spelling -- Internet: lower case only -- Showing identity -- Unpredictability: Ogden Nash on names -- Exotic vowels: disenvowelling -- Exotic consonants: the spread of education -- Spelling noises: unspellable noises -- Abbreviating -- Learning the system: George Crabbe on learning -- Future of English spelling. A teaching appendix: Avoiding isloation ; Towards a linguistics of spelling