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The Stuff of Thought:: Language as a Window into Human Nature (Penguin Press Science) | 
 enlarge | Author: Steven Pinker
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £4.29
You Save: £5.70 (57%)
New (25) Used (7) from £3.93
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 641
Media: Paperback
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0141015470
EAN: 9780141015477
ASIN: 0141015470
Publication Date: June 5, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new - mint condition. Normally dispatched same day.
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| Customer Reviews:
Fascinating July 23, 2008
In all honesty, this is the first of Steven Pinker book that I've read, coming to him roundabout through Noam Chomsky and a couple of other sources. It is a great book though, it has to be admitted, not what you would call a holiday pulp read.
If you don't have a background in linguistics (I don't but have a keen interest) then some of the early chapters about speech parsing, which form the foundation for much to come and are, of necessity, fairly technical, might be slightly heavy going. That said, even these parts are written lucidly and attempt to make the material more accessible to a wider audience.
Inevitably, the most accessible parts of the book come when talking about naming (with some crossover with Leavitt and Dubner's excellent Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything) and swearing. There's a nice little sidestep in this chapter when Pinker starts by appearing to be squeamish about introducing the words under discussion before finally laying them out in all their "glory". Another section I found interesting was his critique of some of the alternative theories of language acquisition currently in circulation, where he managed to present them in as fair a way as I think he could.
If you have an interest in linguistics or some of the psychology surrounding it, then I think this book is one you should have no reservations about purchasing.
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