THE LANGUAGE INSTINCT How the Mind Creates Language

In this seminal work on language and the mind, Harvard professor Steven Pinker argues that language is a human instinct, a skill developed and refined through the process of evolution. Arthur Morey narrates this exhaustively researched and well-written work, which includes an abundance of examples to elucidate the arguments about language development, adaptation, and grammatical structure, among other topics. However, it can be difficult to stay focused during the reading of long lists of words, and, rather than clarifying the material, many of the examples seem less effective in the audio format because they’re read in a list-like fashion. While the book as a whole is certainly interesting and thought provoking, the narration doesn’t communicate the concepts well or hold listener attention. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2012]