false 373969 8 <I>New York Times</I> 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&#151;including the Pulitzer Prize finalist <I>The Blank Slate</I>&#151;have catapulted him into the limelight as one of today's most important and popular science writers. <BR><BR> Now, in <I>The Stuff of Thought</I>, 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. <BR><BR> With his signature wit and style, Pinker takes on scientific questions like whether language affects thought, as well as forays into everyday life&#151;why is bulk e-mail called spam and how do romantic comedies get such mileage out of the ambiguities of dating? <I>The Stuff of Thought</I> is a brilliantly crafted and highly readable work that will appeal to fans of readers of everything from <I>The Selfish Gene</I> and <I>Blink</I> to <I>Eats, Shoots & Leaves</I>. 2839893 book 11 9 2007 The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature total:720|5:155|4:315|3:182|2:55|1:13| 720 2704 2224 203 3 5 false false Mon Aug 25 04:44:50 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 10 11:04:13 -0700 2009 Critique of Pure Reason into English. I always liked the ...more...]]> 4 3 false false Wed Apr 23 10:00:36 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 23 10:21:35 -0700 2008
Drawing from Immanuel Kant, who first proposed the concept...more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Aug 03 15:49:27 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 03 15:49:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Oct 16 16:23:46 -0700 2007 Mon Feb 25 19:12:05 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Feb 05 22:12:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 14 21:09:18 -0800 2009
I very much enjoyed The Language Instinct and quite enjoyed How the Mind Works.

I read Words and Rules when living in Thailand and learning Thai. I had real problems mapping what he had to say from English to Thai. What he had to say about ...more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon Oct 15 21:26:50 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 15 21:27:06 -0700 2007 4 1 false false Mon Jun 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 18 18:30:57 -0800 2007 Mon Jun 09 19:05:55 -0700 2008
I was bogged down my the technical aspects of verbs and grammar towards the beginning of the book but the second half really hit its stride as Pinker explains metaphors, the need for taboos, expl...more...]]> 2 1 false true Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 17 08:36:11 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 25 14:12:27 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 08:47:50 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 08:50:58 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 true false Tue Jun 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 25 07:52:09 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 17 05:10:10 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:53:26 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:53:26 -0800 2009 By examining our words, we can learn a lot about who we are. So argues Harvard academic and popular science writer Steven Pinker in The Stuff of Thought, a logical extension of his previous books. Pinker once again caters to a popular (though scientifically literate) audience, using accessible examp...

more...]]> 1 1 true false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 12:16:53 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 12:55:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jun 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 10:47:42 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 10:48:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 20:16:34 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 20:24:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 true false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Oct 17 21:49:36 -0700 2007 Tue Jan 01 11:20:33 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Aug 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 00:49:52 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 02:20:27 -0700 2009
Steven Pinker’s enthusiasm about language comes through everywhere in this book – which is a good thing, because the subject matter itself is dense and complex. This combination results in a curious reading experience: Pinker’s lively style, many a...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 07 08:16:27 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 07 08:17:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 14:34:17 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 14:39:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Mar 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 23:08:19 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 04 00:16:08 -0700 2009 In the introductory chapter, he explains that the book is heavily about the "semantics" of language, and he's cert...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 29 08:57:24 -0800 2007 Sat Jan 19 16:00:21 -0800 2008 more...]]>