The Stuff of Thought Language as a Window into Human Nature - Steven Pinker

Category: Education, Misc. Non-fiction
Language: English
Keywords: Philosophy Social Psychology & Interactions Social Sciences True Decrypt

Written by Steven Pinker
Read by John Chancer
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Unabridged

Published: October 31st 2019
By: Penguin Audio
Length: 21hrs 26mins

In The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, Steven Pinker looks at how the relationship between words and thoughts can help us understand who we are.

Why do so many swear words involve topics like sex, bodily functions, or the divine? Why do some children’s names thrive while others fall out of favour? Why do we threaten and bribe and seduce in such elaborate, often comical ways? How can a choice of metaphor damn a politician or start a war? And why do we rarely say what we actually mean?

Language, as Steven Pinker shows, is at the heart of our lives, and through the way we use it - whether to inform, persuade, entertain or manipulate - we can glimpse the very essence of what makes us human.