Re: Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages

On Fri, 6 Feb 2009 11:17:48 -0500, Israel Noletto <israelnoletto@...>
wrote:

>Does anyone know this book Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic (By Tim
>Conley, Stephen Cain, Ursula K. Le Guin; ISBN 9780313331886) Languages? Is
>it worth buying? How many and which conlangs does it present?
>
>
>cheers,
>
>
>Israel Noletto
No, I don't, but I'm really glad you pointed it out to me.
<http://www.bookfinder.com/dir/i/Encyclopedia_of_Fictional_And_Fantastic_La
nguages/031333188X/>
makes it look like it might indeed be worthwhile.
<http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Fictional-Fantastic-Languages-
Conley/dp/031333188X%3FSubscriptionId%3D1NNRF7QZ418V218YP1R2%
26tag%3Dbookfindercom0e%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%
26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D031333188X>
makes it look like it costs $75.00; also, apparently, Walter Koenig (is that
Ensign Chekov?) seems to have thought it was a "great idea but a weak
delivery".
He says, in part, "Such an encyclopedia already exists in Italian published in
1994 by Albani and Buanarotti as 'Aga Magera Difura: Dizionario delle Lingue
Imaginarie' (also translated into French) and there is of course also the
wonderful 'Dictionary of Imaginary Places' by Manguel and Guadalupi. Somehow
I think it would have been better just to translate the work by Albani and
Buanarotti, because this book is disappointing in almost all aspects."
In short, he thinks it's (1) too short, (2) includes too many languages it should
have left out, (3) leaves out too many languages it should have included.

I'm thinking I'd want to get a chance to glance through it before I spent
seventy-five bucks on it.