“Consider the Lobster” is one of four (how'd that happen?) books I currently have on the go (the others – “Convergence Culture”, one about contrarian management principles which I can't remember the title of – probably “Contrarian Management”, and buzz book of the moment, “Twilight”.)
One of the essays in the first book on that list is a look at the English language via a discussion of the politics behind English usage guides. Sort of long but worth the read.