That was by American author (and Anglophile) Bill Bryson. Bryson loves the English language and used to work as a sub-editor for the Times of London, he is very defensive of the “Americanisations” which were frequently derided by English snobs but which he proved are very often the proper old English usage.
He also wrote a very useful book for anyone who needs to write properly (or just likes to write properly) “Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words”. It’s amazing how many simple errors you’ll discover that you make and had no idea they were wrong (eg no such words as “alright” or “alot”), mind you installing a spell checker in your computer will probably do that job for you anyway.