The Language Instinct cover art

The Language Instinct

How the Mind Creates Language

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The Language Instinct

By: Steven Pinker
Narrated by: Arthur Morey
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About this listen

In this classic, the world’s expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution.

The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association and the Public Interest Award from the Linguistics Society of America. This edition includes an update on advances in the science of language since The Language Instinct was first published.

©2011 Steven Pinker (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc. Communication & Social Skills History & Philosophy Linguistics Personal Development Philosophy Science Social Sciences Words, Language & Grammar Witty Human Brain

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Critic reviews

"Pinker writes with acid verve." ( Atlantic Monthly)
"An extremely valuable book, very informative, and very well written." (Noam Chomsky)
All stars
Most relevant  
I struggled to remember lots of it but the ideas, concepts and more importantly why some people may struggle with language stuck. I liked the games, rhymes and paradoxes.

Insightful look at what makes us human

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The book describes our language.
How we learn, speak and should speak.
I have recognised my path of speaking and learning languages.

recognition

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didn't realize language had so much to it! understanding the similarly to creature development and Darwinism theory was good.

good

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Really interesting subject matter, totally ruined by a monotone robotic voice.i can't listen to this book. Disappointed.

Awful narration ruined a good book

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A brilliant book full of learning and erudition. Ad often with Pinker, some sections get a little involved particularly for an audio book but overall a masterful piece of work.

Endlessly fascinating

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First science book I read years ago that fulfilled my hunger for more knowledge about language and set me on a journey of more discovery still sticks up and i will gladly return to it again and again.

Exceptional reasoning via metaphorical description

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What did you like most about The Language Instinct?

All the science therein.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Stephen Pinker. I think his hair is fabulous.

What about Arthur Morey’s performance did you like?

I liked his mouth words.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The bit about the pixie children is probably the bit that sticks most in my mind.

Any additional comments?

Good book. Read it. (Or listen to it as the case may be).

So much science i don't even

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I read a chapter of this book at university and remember really enjoying it. I think it was chapter 12: “The Language Mavens”. At the time I was interested in notions of correct grammar and standard English. I found it to be persuasive: that artificially imposed grammar rules (such as you shouldn’t split an infinitive or shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition) are unnecessary and meaningless. I enjoyed listening to that chapter again, but it’s quite different from the rest of the book, which, although written for a general audience, is still quite academic and thick in the weeds of linguistics. It was interesting but, to be honest, not much of it has stayed with me on the surface level of knowledge since I read the book. I’m not sure how much of it is original research by Steven Pinker, or whether he’s just synthesizing the research of others.

The Language Mavens

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I was excited to listen to this audio book as the subject fascinates me. Sadly the totally wrong narrator was used and I can't listen to it.

interesting subject spoiled by narration

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spends ages just reading every entry on big tables when the point is clear after 2 or 3 examples. this doesn't work well as an audio book

lots of boring long lists

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