The Stuff of Thought

May 21, 2007
Bestselling Harvard psychology professor Pinker (The Blank Slate
) investigates what the words we use tell us about the way we think. Language, he concludes, reflects our brain structure, which itself is innate. Similarly, the way we talk about things is rooted in, but not identical to, physical reality: human beings take “the analogue flow of sensation the world presents to them” and “package their experience into objects and events.” Examining how we do this, the author summarizes and rejects such linguistic theories as ”extreme nativism” and ”radical pragmatism” as he tosses around terms like “content-locative” and “semantic reconstrual” that may seem daunting to general readers. But Pinker, a masterful popularizer, illuminates this specialized material with homely illustrations. The difference between drinking from a glass of beer and drinking a glass of beer, for example, shows that “the mind has the power to frame a single situation in very different ways.” Separate chapters explore concepts of causality, naming, swearing and politeness as the tools with which we organize the flow of raw information. Metaphor in particular, he asserts, helps us “entertain new ideas and new ways of managing our affairs.” His vivid prose and down-to-earth attitude will once again attract an enthusiastic audience outside academia.

October 29, 2007
Unless you have a reasonably good background in linguistics, you’ll find this excellent book much easier to read than to listen to. Olsher is not to blame; he reads clearly and at a (slightly rapid) conversational speed. Pinker aims for the educated lay reader, using wit and popular metaphor to clarify his meanings and bring abstruse linguistic concepts to life. But his sentences are dense; you need to reread them and think them through. And the jargon, though clearly defined, requires time and thought to absorb: “Though hypernyms are not really examples of polysemy the way metonyms are, their use in emotionally tinged speech is another illustration of how choice among words can make a psychological difference.” Such sentences are followed by clarifying illustrations, but they require cogitation—work that is well rewarded by a deeper and more complex understanding of language as a window into the mind. The chapter on the semantics of swearing is particularly fun and enlightening. In every culture swear words concern gods, diseases, excretions and sex, and Pinker tells us why. A person with some knowledge of linguistic theory will enjoy this audio enormously; a person without it will be enriched and delighted by the book, but have great difficulties with the audio version. Simultaneous release with the Viking hardcover (Reviews, May 21).