books on ling for non-specialists?

[Frank Abate]

I have a couple to recommend.  One is called "Grammatical Man" by Jeremy
Campbell, probably out of print now but available from libraries and used.
Also, George Miller's "The Science of Words" is good.

And the textbook originally done by Thomas Pyles, re-edited later by John
Algeo, "The Origins and Development of the English Language", is excellent
for English, and though a textbook is pretty readable.

Frank Abate