What people recommend, in their own words, with the receipt.
Internet linguist; author of Because Internet; co-hosts the Lingthusiasm podcast.
5 things
True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color–from Azure to Zinc PinkBook Kory Stamper
I have been waiting for this book from Kory Stamper since I was a fan of her blog in 2014 and it does not disappoint.
McCulloch's own comment reblogging the Lingthusiasm episode about Kory Stamper's new book, on her blog allthingslinguistic.com
allthingslinguistic.com ↗·2026-03-20
Word By Word: The Secret Life of DictionariesBook Kory Stamper
Her first book was Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, which we also loved, and now Kory is back with the fruits of her dive into the mid-20th century quest to standardize colour terms
Lingthusiasm episode show notes (co-written by McCulloch) reblogged on her own blog
allthingslinguistic.com ↗·2026-03-20
HellsparkBook Janet Kagan
so I’ve paired it with Hellspark, Janet Kagen’s sf book of translation and cultural miscommunication, which several @lingthusiasm listeners told us to read and they were EXTREMELY RIGHT.
McCulloch's 'This is my Jam' post pairing books from her shelves with an advent jam calendar, on allthingslinguistic.com
allthingslinguistic.com ↗·2025-12-26
The Fifth SeasonBook N. K. Jemisin
The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin (whose geology-based swear word system I loved linguistically) for their extensive histories of systemic exploitation
McCulloch's 'This is my Jam' post pairing books from her shelves with an advent jam calendar, on allthingslinguistic.com
allthingslinguistic.com ↗·2025-12-26
Bea WolfBook Zach Weinersmith
I’m pairing with Bea Wolf: Zach Weinersmith’s retelling of Beowulf as a kids fable in full Anglo Saxon meter. It’s glorious.
McCulloch's 'This is my Jam' post pairing books from her shelves with an advent jam calendar, on allthingslinguistic.com
allthingslinguistic.com ↗·2025-12-26
Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.
The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.
A dashed affiliate link, sponsored or their own label means the post disclosed a relationship. It is shown, never hidden.
The small bar beside a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.
The bar shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Full and green is recent. It drains, and turns amber and then grey, as the post gets older.
What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The bar is empty after about:
A striped bar means the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no bar.