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The Stuff of Thought
Steven Pinker
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"I heard about Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought when I went to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco and I heard him talk, and he gave a real quick, quick taste of what was involved in the book, and I really appreciated his wit. He spoke about how we use vague language in regards to situations such as bribes or in regards to sex, the whole idea of, "Would you like to come up to look at my etchings?" is a nice way of inviting someone to come to your apartment and seduce them, but that way they could say, "No, thank you," and you can pretend they just rejected looking at your etchings.
The book is about how our language reflects how we think, and he goes into great detail about this, about how our understanding of our actions reflects how our parts of speech are put together. Unfortunately, it goes a little too far into this so that several of the chapters drag out so long. I felt a little bit like I was reading a textbook rather than reading a book for pleasure, but the chapter on swearing is fantastic. It's also interesting because he puts the swear words in. When I heard him speak at the Commonwealth Club, he wasn't allowed to say those words because it was going to be broadcast, and so it's interesting to see those words in print, in block, and it's a little bit surprising.
I haven't read any books, other books by Steven Pinker, and I haven't read a great deal of linguistic books. I took a class at university of college and pretty much almost failed it, and so this was a whole lot more interesting than what I'd learned in school.
I think this book could be interested in anyone who enjoys language. If you are someone who really loves words and how we communicate, you're gonna enjoy the whole book, and otherwise, just enjoy those chapters.
I'd give this book four out of five stars because goes way too deep in parts of speech, but he's also a good writer, he gives great examples, and there are many parts that are enjoyable."
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