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Language as a Window into Human Nature
Every time we swear, we reveal something about human emotions. When we use an innuendo to convey a bribe, threat, or sexual come-on (rather than just blurting it out), we disclose something about human relationships. Our use of prepositions and tenses tap into peculiarly human concepts of space and time, and our nouns and verbs tap into mental models of matter and causation. Even the names we give our babies, as they change from decade to decade, have important things to day about our relations to our children and to society. By looking closely at our everyday speech -our conversations, our jokes, our legal disputes - Pinker paints a vivid picture of the thoughts and emotions that populate our mental lives.
"His vivid prose and down-to-earth attitude will once again attract an enthusiastic audience outside academia." - PW.
This information about The Stuff of Thought was first featured
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Photo: Rose Lincoln
Steven Pinker is one of the world's leading authorities on language and the mind. His popular and highly praised books include The Stuff of Thought, The Blank Slate, Words and Rules, How the Mind Works, and The Language Instinct. The recipient of several major awards for his teaching, books, and scientific research, Pinker is Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He also writes frequently for the New York Times, Time, the New Republic, and other magazines.
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No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up
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