The Stuff of Thought
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  • Published: 1 September 2008
  • ISBN: 9780141015477
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 512
  • RRP: $32.99
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The Stuff of Thought

Formats & editions
EBook
5 Jun 2008
Audiobook
31 Oct 2019
Paperback
1 Sep 2008
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The Stuff of Thought is THE book of Steven Pinker's career

The Stuff of Thought is an exhilarating work of non-fiction. Surprising, thought-provoking and incredibly enjoyable, there is no other book like it - Steven Pinker will revolutionise the way you think about language. He analyses what words actually mean and how we use them, and he reveals what this can tell us about ourselves. He shows how we use space and motion as metaphors for more abstract ideas, and uncovers the deeper structures of human thought that have been shaped by evolutionary history. He also explores the emotional impact of language, from names to swear words, and shows us the full power that it can have over us. And, with this book, he also shows just how stimulating and entertaining language can be.
  • Published: 1 September 2008
  • ISBN: 9780141015477
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 512
  • RRP: $32.99
Categories:
Share…

About the author

Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker is an experimental cognitive scientist. Currently Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard, he has also taught at Stanford and MIT. He has won many prizes for his research, teaching, and his eleven books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and Enlightenment Now. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Humanist of the Year, a recipient of nine honorary doctorates, one of Foreign Policy's 'World's Top 100 Public Intellectuals' and Time's '100 Most Influential People in the World Today'.

http://stevenpinker.com

portrait photo of Steven Pinker

Also by Steven Pinker

The Sense of Style
Enlightenment Now
The Better Angels of Our Nature
Rationality
Learnability and Cognition, new edition
The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television
The Blank Slate
See all

Praise for The Stuff of Thought

Astonishingly readable

Daily Telegraph

Perceptive, amusing and intelligent

Times

No one writes about language as clearly as Steven Pinker, and this is his best book yet

Financial Times

Immensely readable and stimulating. Pinker is a master at making complex ideas palatable

Independent

Awesome ... Pinker writes lucidly and elegantly, and leavens the text with scores of perfectly judged anecdotes, jokes, cartoons and illustrations

Daily Mail