Spell it out : the curious, enthralling, and extraordinary story of English spelling / David Crystal.

Previously published by London : Profile Books, 2012.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

The nature of the problem: Pooh and his friends on spelling -- The beginning -- The size of the problem -- Building the alphabet: letter origins -- The basic weaknesses: hope for us all -- Keeping things long: more than letters -- Keeping things short: spelling as tragedy -- The first exceptions -- Seeing the link: forensic spelling -- Know your Latin and French: spelling as reputation -- New letters for 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 -- The 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 -- The role of personalities -- Another personality -- Printers and publishers: spelling wars -- Changing practices: Roger McGough on spelling -- The 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 -- The future of English spelling. A teaching appendix: Avoiding isolation ; Towards a linguistics of spelling.

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.