** spoiler alert ** This book presented some interesting ideas on how language is shaped by the way we think, and how it enables us to think in new ways, but ultimately i found it to be too academic, like attending a long lecture by a Harvard professor, which the author is. But others may have more patience with it, especially if they don't read it while recovering from a head cold. My favorite sections talked about how new words and metaphors arise and how names come into and out of fashion, as well as how we selectively use direct or indirect, "polite" language, including cases where obscurity of meaning or openness to interpretation is helpful such as in international diplomacy.