Um... is a complete natural history of the things we do when we talk and (sometimes) wish we didn’t—an entertainingly thorough look at the science behind why we talk the way we do, and how our culture interprets it.
“...An enjoyable tour of linguistic mishaps… ...Rewarding.” New York Times Book Review
“...Challenges the reader to think about his or her own speech in an entirely new way.” Publishers Weekly
“Mr. Erard’s enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. He gets you wondering about blundering.” Wall Street Journal
“Erard deftly picks his way through a junkyard of spoken debris to inform, enlighten and entertain in equal measure.” BookPage
“...An absorbing survey of the (mis)spoken word, from ancient Egyptian cases of speechlessness to television bloopers...” O Magazine
“...A fascinating look at those two-letter words we all know and, uh, overuse.” GQ
“Who’d have thought that a book called ‘Um’ could be a page-turner?...a fascinating meditation on why blunders happen, and what they tell us about language and ourselves.” Geoff Nunberg, University of California at Berkeley
“...Erard dives deep into the hows and whys of verbal blunders and the biological realities of language, letting us off the psychological hook.” Minnesota Star-Tribune
“You can feel when an author is enjoying himself, and Erard’s survey of these most common of dysfunctions in our dysfunctional society is written with unexpected humor, grace and high spirits.” Louisville Courier-Journal
“...A nifty little book.” Charleston Post and Courier
“...What surely must be the most exhaustive analysis of what surely must be the most insubstantial word in English.” Santa Cruz Sentinel
