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lucazani11's review against another edition
4.0
Shakespeare had Caliban speak for the human race when he said, “You taught me language, and my profit on’t is, I know how to curse.”
Check ‘all activity’ for extended notes.
Check ‘all activity’ for extended notes.
alexisrt's review against another edition
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature by Steven Pinker (2007)
seclement's review
3.0
If I were rating this book based on the first 4 chapters, it would get two stars. The rest of the book deserves 4 stars, so I'm meeting in the middle.
The first four chapters were, from my perspective, painful, drawn out descriptions of linguistics material more appropriate for a Linguistics 101 textbook than a popular book. Although sometimes these culminated in quite interesting points, Pinker often took dozens of pages to say what he could in just a few. The early chapters, in fact, contained only a few major points that are really central to highlighting the way language can give us a glimpse into human nature. I think these points could have easily been made without throwing dozens of linguistic concepts at the reader, particularly the terminology. Perhaps knowing the terminology is a great party gag for some, but I for one don't ever expect to use most of that information again. Most of the points in this portion of the book, where interesting, were more "huh, isn't that neat?" rather than really revolutionary or central to the theme of the book. the chapter in which he debunked other linguistic theories was really not essential to the rest of the book, and if he wanted to include it, it could have gone in an appendix. My advice to readers who find themselves annoyed or uninterested in the first few chapters is to skip ahead to chapter 5. You won't miss anything that is necessary for understanding the rest of the book or understanding his thesis.
Once you get the chapter on metaphor, this book gets interesting. Linguists never tire of discussing metaphor, it seems, but I really enjoy reading about it. So many of our expressions are metaphors, whether we realise it or not, and that is a really interesting when you consider what that might tell us about the human brain. The chapter on swearing was also brilliant, particularly for me - someone who doesn't see why people are so offended by profanity. While I had to convince myself to sit down and actually read the first half, I found myself looking forward to picking up the book again when I was reading the second half. Considering the book's theme of "language as a window into human nature", this is where I actually think Pinker provides a winder and provides some rather interesting points to ponder. A lot of what he does is to point to things that are quite obvious once he's flagged it, but as a native speaker of english (and member of the human race), you never thought about before. Sure, most of these things aren't completely universal - which I think makes language a rather imperfect medium through which to explore the nature of humanity more generally - but many of them are nearly so, and that makes them all the more fascinating.
The first four chapters were, from my perspective, painful, drawn out descriptions of linguistics material more appropriate for a Linguistics 101 textbook than a popular book. Although sometimes these culminated in quite interesting points, Pinker often took dozens of pages to say what he could in just a few. The early chapters, in fact, contained only a few major points that are really central to highlighting the way language can give us a glimpse into human nature. I think these points could have easily been made without throwing dozens of linguistic concepts at the reader, particularly the terminology. Perhaps knowing the terminology is a great party gag for some, but I for one don't ever expect to use most of that information again. Most of the points in this portion of the book, where interesting, were more "huh, isn't that neat?" rather than really revolutionary or central to the theme of the book. the chapter in which he debunked other linguistic theories was really not essential to the rest of the book, and if he wanted to include it, it could have gone in an appendix. My advice to readers who find themselves annoyed or uninterested in the first few chapters is to skip ahead to chapter 5. You won't miss anything that is necessary for understanding the rest of the book or understanding his thesis.
Once you get the chapter on metaphor, this book gets interesting. Linguists never tire of discussing metaphor, it seems, but I really enjoy reading about it. So many of our expressions are metaphors, whether we realise it or not, and that is a really interesting when you consider what that might tell us about the human brain. The chapter on swearing was also brilliant, particularly for me - someone who doesn't see why people are so offended by profanity. While I had to convince myself to sit down and actually read the first half, I found myself looking forward to picking up the book again when I was reading the second half. Considering the book's theme of "language as a window into human nature", this is where I actually think Pinker provides a winder and provides some rather interesting points to ponder. A lot of what he does is to point to things that are quite obvious once he's flagged it, but as a native speaker of english (and member of the human race), you never thought about before. Sure, most of these things aren't completely universal - which I think makes language a rather imperfect medium through which to explore the nature of humanity more generally - but many of them are nearly so, and that makes them all the more fascinating.
subvino's review
1.0
What a slog. Guess my interest in linguistics isn't as strong as I believed it was because this was painful.
lspargo's review
3.0
I liked parts of this book more than others. I thought the chapter about how children learn how to use verbs was very interesting. My favorite chapter was the one about swearing, where swear words come from, and why people swear. The other chapters I enjoyed were about names for people and things and where they come from, and the chapter about new words and why some stick around while others don't. I didn't really get the chapter about metaphors, and I skipped half of it.
izumen's review against another edition
Книгата започва с най-скъпия семантичен спор в историята на човечеството. Колко събития са се случили на 9/11? Застрахователите не могат да стигнат до съгласие дали събитието е едно - планът на Осама да направи терористичен акт, или две - двата сблъсъка на самолетите в кулите близнаци. Пинкър цели да ни покаже, че един сценарий може да бъде осмислен по различни начини. След което задава въпроса - представете си ако се окаже, че Шекспир не е Шекспир. Как тогава ще наричаме новия автор? Едва ли с истинското му име, след като стотици години той е познат като Шекспир. Ами предишният? Как ще обозначим него. Оттук Пинкър се впуска в разсъждения за ролята на имената и глаголите, как възприемаме време и пространство, но най-вече - как децата учат нов език.