The Stuff of Thought
Language as a Window Into Human Nature
Readers rate it 3.6 (33 on Hardcover)
522 pages · Released 2007 · Penguin
Content report card
The Stuff of Thought parent’s guide: what’s inside
Violence
LGBTQ+ themes
Scary or mature
Substance use
What it offers
Positive role models
A note for parents
This is a sophisticated academic book about linguistics and cognitive science, not written for children. Pinker discusses swearing, sexual language, and innuendo as linguistic phenomena—analyzing why these words exist and what they reveal about human cognition—rather than using them gratuitously. The content is intellectually rigorous and requires mature reading comprehension; high school students interested in language, psychology, or science may find it valuable, but younger readers will find it inaccessible.
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From the publisher
The Pulitzer Prize finalist author of The Blank Slate presents an accessible study of the relationship between language and human nature, explaining how everything from swearing and innuendo to prepositions and baby names reveal facts about key human concepts, emotions, and relationships. The Pulitzer Prize finalist author of The Blank Slate presents an accessible study of the relationship between language and human nature, explaining how everything from swearing and innuendo to prepositions and baby names reveal facts about key human concepts, emotions, and relationships.
Shelved under
- Psychology
- Philosophy
- Science
- Language Arts & Disciplines
- Thought and thinking
- Nonfiction
- Language and languages
- Language Arts
- Philosophy Of Language
- Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy
- Linguistics
- Personality
Books in the Language and Human Nature Tetralogy series
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ISBN 9780670063277 · Penguin