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The Stuff of Thought

Language as a Window into Human Nature

By Steven Pinker

(18)

| Hardcover | 9780670063277

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Book Description

New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker possesses that rare combination of scientific aptitude and verbal eloquence that enables him to provide lucid explanations of deep and powerful ideas. His previous books—including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Blank Slate—haveContinue

New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker possesses that rare combination of scientific aptitude and verbal eloquence that enables him to provide lucid explanations of deep and powerful ideas. His previous books—including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Blank Slate—have catapulted him into the limelight as one of today's most important and popular science writers.

Now, in The Stuff of Thought, Pinker marries two of the subjects he knows best: language and human nature. The result is a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. What does swearing reveal about our emotions? Why does innuendo disclose something about relationships? Pinker reveals how our use of prepositions and tenses taps into peculiarly human concepts of space and time, and how our nouns and verbs speak to our notions of matter. Even the names we give our babies have important things to say about our relations to our children and to society.

With his signature wit and style, Pinker takes on scientific questions like whether language affects thought, as well as forays into everyday life—why is bulk e-mail called spam and how do romantic comedies get such mileage out of the ambiguities of dating? The Stuff of Thought is a brilliantly crafted and highly readable work that will appeal to fans of readers of everything from The Selfish Gene and Blink to Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Critics

  • Mind your language, professor

    The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature by Steven Pinker Allen Lane, £25, pp512 This is the experimental psychologist Steven Pinker's seventh book on the workings of the human mind. Each one has been packed with more ideas, infor ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • Talking outside the box

    The Stuff of Thought: Language As a Window Into Human Nature by Steven Pinker 499pp, Allen Lane, £25 Would you feel better about paying your taxes if they were renamed "membership fees"? The US linguist George Lakoff thinks you might. Lakoff believes ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

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Book Details

  • Rating:
    (18)
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  • English Books
  • Hardcover 512 Pages
  • ISBN-10: 0670063274
  • ISBN-13: 9780670063277
  • Publisher: Viking Adult
  • Pub date: Sep 11, 2007
  • Also available as: Paperback, Audio CD and eBook
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9780670063277 Hardcover $29.95 $23.96 bn.com
-- $12.99 ebooks.com
$29.95 -- The Book Depository
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