The Stuff of Thought

The Literary Corner is a place to discuss your favourite books and authors and to add your own poems and stories.

Moderators: DJKeefy, 4u Network

Post Reply
User avatar
Zaydine
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:56 pm
Location: UK
Been thanked: 2 times
Gender:

The Stuff of Thought

Post by Zaydine »

This is one to get the brain cells churning over. The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker. He's a professor of psychology at Harvard Uni.

The book is a bit hard going for the first couple of chapters but after that is extremely amusing as well as informative, explaining amongst other things: how an individual's language affects their thinking and therefore the outcomes eg that science is limited because English is the 'Lingua Franca' of all scientific research and this skews how scientists look at the world, time space, causality etc., therefore unconsiously closing off areas of investigation

The chapter on 'Games People Play' is enlightening and the chapter about why people who are multi-lingual only swear in their first language when under duress (and exactly why swearing is carnal) makes this worth buying the book.

While reading it I felt compelled to relay sections to others in my company because the information is enthralling and therefore I definititely recommend it to those who like to question belief, generally accepted understanding and fundamental 'truths'.


Have loving acceptance of all that is.......
drwho
Member
Member
Posts: 207
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 12:49 pm
Contact:

Post by drwho »

Wiki: Today all of the world's major scientific journals are published in English, which is definitive evidence that English is the lingua franca of science and technology.
Much to the chagrin of ze french.
But to my mind the Arab world tends to use animal insults rather than carnal....8)
Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post
  • White Stuff
    by Who2 » » in General Discussions and Rants
    4 Replies
    1011 Views
    Last post by carrie
  • And now Some Serious News...about old stuff
    by Who2 » » in History and Archaeology
    4 Replies
    354 Views
    Last post by newcastle
  • '...foreign people stuff.'
    by HEPZIBAH » » in General Discussions and Rants
    15 Replies
    1018 Views
    Last post by DJKeefy
  • Computer Techno stuff.
    by Bullet Magnet » » in Hobbies And Pastimes
    20 Replies
    2074 Views
    Last post by Dusak
  • Intelligence, Spys and Terrorist stuff
    by LovelyLadyLux » » in Politics and Religion
    1 Replies
    484 Views
    Last post by Horus