{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260424T163327Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GMJTCZ1R?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"B0GMJTCZ1R","authors":["Laura Spinney"],"book_id":"9798260201831","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/proto-B0GMJTCZ1R","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9798260201831.jpg?v=20260424T163327Z%3A2026-04-24T16%3A33%3A27Z","description":"Named a Best Book of 2025 by the Guardian, Scientific American, and the Washington Independent Review of Books Proto is a revelatory portrait of world history in its own words. Daughter. Duhitár-. Dustr. Dukte. Listen to these English, Sanskrit, Armenian and Lithuanian words, all meaning the same thing, and you hear echoes of one of history's most unlikely journeys. All four languages-along with hundreds of others, from French and Gaelic, to Persian and Polish-trace their origins to an ancient tongue spoken as the last ice age receded. This language, which we call Proto-Indo-European, was born between Europe and Asia and exploded out of its cradle, fragmenting as it spread east and west. Its last speaker died thousands of years ago, yet Proto-Indo-European lives on in its myriad linguistic offspring and in some of our best loved works of literature, including Dante's Inferno and the Rig Veda , The Lord of the Rings and the love poetry of Rumi. How did this happen? Acclaimed journalist Laura Spinney set out to answer that question, retracing the Indo-European odyssey across continents and millennia. With her we retrace the epic journeys of nomads and monks, warriors and kings – the ancient peoples who carried these languages far and wide. In the present, Spinney meets the scientists on a thrilling mission to retrieve the lost languages and their speakers: the linguists, archaeologists and geneticists who have reconstructed that ancient diaspora. What they have learned has profound implications for our modern world as people and their languages are on the move again.","forthcoming":true,"isbn13":"9798260201831","publication_date":"20261006","publisher":"Bloomsbury","slug":"proto","subtitle":"How One Ancient Language Went Global","title":"Proto"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"LAN009010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Historical Linguistics","score":0.7796,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN009050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Sociolinguistics","score":0.7287,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SOC002010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"How Cultures Work","score":0.7105,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"LAN009010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Historical Linguistics","score":0.7796,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN009050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Sociolinguistics","score":0.7287,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SOC002010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"How Cultures Work","score":0.7105,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"HIS039000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Civilizations","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LAN009010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Historical Linguistics","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SCI029000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Genetics & Genomics","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Historical Linguistics","score":0.7796,"slug":"historical-linguistics"},{"label":"Sociolinguistics","score":0.7287,"slug":"sociolinguistics"},{"label":"How Cultures Work","score":0.7105,"slug":"how-cultures-work"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in historical linguistics and the origins of languages","Those curious about the cultural and scientific exploration of ancient human migrations"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Patrick Wyman"],"book_id":"9780063256484","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780063256484.jpg?v=20260424T163327Z%3A2026-04-24T16%3A33%3A27Z","score":14.5117,"title":"Lost Worlds","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780063256484"},{"authors":["Virginia Postrel"],"book_id":"9781541617629","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781541617629.jpg?v=20260424T163327Z%3A2026-04-24T16%3A33%3A27Z","score":14.4045,"title":"The Fabric of Civilization","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781541617629"},{"authors":["Mark Pendergrast"],"book_id":"9781541699380","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781541699380.jpg?v=20260424T163327Z%3A2026-04-24T16%3A33%3A27Z","score":14.2494,"title":"Uncommon Grounds","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781541699380"},{"authors":["Amy Butler Greenfield"],"book_id":"9780060522766","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780060522766.jpg?v=20260424T163327Z%3A2026-04-24T16%3A33%3A27Z","score":13.9176,"title":"A Perfect Red","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780060522766"},{"authors":["Merilee Grindle"],"book_id":"9780674278332","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780674278332.jpg?v=20260424T163327Z%3A2026-04-24T16%3A33%3A27Z","score":13.5652,"title":"In the Shadow of Quetzalcoatl","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780674278332"},{"authors":["Paul Cooper","Paul M.M. Cooper"],"book_id":"9781335013415","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781335013415.jpg?v=20260424T163327Z%3A2026-04-24T16%3A33%3A27Z","score":13.2993,"title":"Fall of Civilizations","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781335013415"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:history"],"label":"History","score":0.5695,"slug":"history"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: language evolution, history of human migration, scientific discovery.","Pacing: reflective, voice-and-character forward.","Themes: History."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.9,"pacing":"reflective","reader_fit":["Readers interested in historical linguistics and the origins of languages","Those curious about the cultural and scientific exploration of ancient human migrations"],"themes":["language evolution","history of human migration","scientific discovery"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":3353,"goodreads_reviews_count":518,"quality_score":0.9343}}