Take a photo of a barcode or cover
aidaninasia's review against another edition
5.0
I am so grateful to Dr. Everett for his wonderful work. The first time I came across Chomsky's work was when I was an education major, his theory of innatism never sat well with me but I felt that I must be crazy to question such a "great" linguist as he. Thankfully I was introduced to Everett's opposing theory a short while later and my heart shall never stop singing his praises.
defqon804's review against another edition
4.0
I struggled to finish this book because it is VERY repetitive, and I think it could have been structured better. Probably needs to be be re-edited and a second edition could be much better.
Having said that, the Author's arguments were very persuasive, logical, and concrete in my opinion. He brings a lot to the table by his exposure to Amazonian tribes that he stayed with in Brazil, and learned their languages. All of the evidence to support his theory are in depth, and gave me the ability, as a non-scientist, to understand them well since he explains of the science behind the evidence that he is proposing.
Having said that, the Author's arguments were very persuasive, logical, and concrete in my opinion. He brings a lot to the table by his exposure to Amazonian tribes that he stayed with in Brazil, and learned their languages. All of the evidence to support his theory are in depth, and gave me the ability, as a non-scientist, to understand them well since he explains of the science behind the evidence that he is proposing.
qaphsiel's review against another edition
3.0
This was... okay. I think the science behind it is quite reasonable. Certainly giving what we now know about human genetics and neurology it makes far more sense than the opposing view championed by Noam Chomsky and his disciples. That view -- than human ability to use language arose relatively recently and suddenly via a single mutation -- does not jive with the facts that there are no areas of the brain exclusively dedicated to language and language does not engage only one area of the brain, implying that such a mutation event would need to affect several areas of the brain (but not create new structures) as well as parts of human anatomy. Possible? Sure. Likely? No.
Instead, Everett proposes that language evolved gradually and as its utility (anthropomorphizing heavily here, but w/e) became obvious to evolution and selection for the parts of our neural and gross anatomy used in linguistic processing and production happened. Brains got bigger and areas within them got tweaked and enlarged to help humans 'do' language. The anatomy of our mouths and throats also underwent modification to enhance our production of speech sounds.
The upstart of this is that Neandert[h]als could speak (a view held by most anthropologists and linguists today) and probably our earlier ancestors (e.g., homo erectus) could too (a less common view, but in no way beyond the pale; the author holds this view as well).
The problems I had with this book were its unevenness and repetitiveness. At times things were overexplained while at others things were not. Much information is repeated ad nauseam -- for example a quotation about evolution satisficing, though at no point does he bother to point out that it's a portmanteau of satisfy and suffice. Sure, most people either know or will figure it out, but given the repetitive explanations of other things... wtf?
Finally, an error that irked me greatly. The author has done a lot of work in the Amazon and purports to speak Portuguese (which, not Spanish, is the official language of Brazil). However, he makes an observation about Portuguese verb conjugation that is flat out wrong. Wrong and something that one would learn in the 2nd week of a course. In the grand scheme of the book it's not a problem, but it is plainly wrong and no one who speaks the language even a little would ever claim. This sort of thing makes me wonder what other plainly wrong things are stated as facts.
Instead, Everett proposes that language evolved gradually and as its utility (anthropomorphizing heavily here, but w/e) became obvious to evolution and selection for the parts of our neural and gross anatomy used in linguistic processing and production happened. Brains got bigger and areas within them got tweaked and enlarged to help humans 'do' language. The anatomy of our mouths and throats also underwent modification to enhance our production of speech sounds.
The upstart of this is that Neandert[h]als could speak (a view held by most anthropologists and linguists today) and probably our earlier ancestors (e.g., homo erectus) could too (a less common view, but in no way beyond the pale; the author holds this view as well).
The problems I had with this book were its unevenness and repetitiveness. At times things were overexplained while at others things were not. Much information is repeated ad nauseam -- for example a quotation about evolution satisficing, though at no point does he bother to point out that it's a portmanteau of satisfy and suffice. Sure, most people either know or will figure it out, but given the repetitive explanations of other things... wtf?
Finally, an error that irked me greatly. The author has done a lot of work in the Amazon and purports to speak Portuguese (which, not Spanish, is the official language of Brazil). However, he makes an observation about Portuguese verb conjugation that is flat out wrong. Wrong and something that one would learn in the 2nd week of a course. In the grand scheme of the book it's not a problem, but it is plainly wrong and no one who speaks the language even a little would ever claim. This sort of thing makes me wonder what other plainly wrong things are stated as facts.
sophiecole's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
this book is controversial to other books i have read on similar topics, which doesn’t necessarily make it worse, but its slow pace made it very difficult to read. Parts of it were anecdotal, and some very analytical, which made me feel I was both too advanced very not advanced enough for this book