Synopses & Reviews
English is the language of science today. No matter which languages you know, if you want your work seen, studied, and cited, you need to publish in English. But that hasnand#8217;t always been the case. Though there was a time when Latin dominated the field, for centuries science has been a polyglot enterprise, conducted in a number of languages whose importance waxed and waned over timeand#151;until the rise of English in the twentieth century.
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So how did we get from there to here? How did French, German, Latin, Russian, and even Esperanto give way to English? And what can we reconstruct of the experience of doing science in the polyglot past? With Scientific Babel, Michael D. Gordin resurrects that lost world, in part through an ingenious mechanism: the pages of his highly readable narrative account teem with footnotesand#151;not offering background information, but presenting quoted material in its original language. The result is stunning: as we read about the rise and fall of languages, driven by politics, war, economics, and institutions, we actually see it happen in the ever-changing web of multilingual examples. The history of science, and of English as its dominant language, comes to life, and brings with it a new understanding not only of the frictions generated by a scientific community that spoke in many often mutually unintelligible voices, but also of the possibilities of the polyglot, and the losses that the dominance of English entails.
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Few historians of science write as well as Gordin, and Scientific Babel reveals his incredible command of the literature, language, and intellectual essence of science past and present. No reader who takes this linguistic journey with him will be disappointed.
Review
“
Through The Language Glass is so robustly researched and wonderfully told that it is hard to put down… Deutscher makes a convincing case for the influence of language on thought, and in doing so he reveals as much about the way color words shape our perception as about the way that scientific dogma and fashion can blind us.”
Christine Kenneally, New Scientist “A delight to read.”
Christopher Howse, The Spectator (UK)
Review
“Fascinating reading.… Deutscher does not merely weave little-known facts into an absorbing story. He also takes account of the vast changes in our perceptions of other races and cultures over the past two centuries.”— Derek Bickerton,
The New York Times Book Review “An informative, pleasurable read… A gifted writer, Deutscher picks his way nimbly past overblown arguments to a sensible compromise.”—Amanda Katz,
The Boston Globe “A thrilling and challenging ride.”— Christopher Schoppa,
The Washington Post “Brilliantly surveys the differences words and grammar make between cultures.”—Carlin Romano,
The Chronicle of Higher Education “A most entertaining book, easy to read but packed with fascinating detail.”—Michael Quinion,
World Wide Words “
Through The Language Glass is so robustly researched and wonderfully told that it is hard to put down… Deutscher brings together more than a centurys worth of captivating characters, incidents, and experiments that illuminate the relationship between words and mind… He makes a convincing case for the influence of language on thought, and in doing so he reveals as much about the way color words shape our perception as about the way that scientific dogma and fashion can blind us.”— Christine Kenneally,
New Scientist “Entertainingly written and thought-provoking… Deutscher has a talent for making scientific history read like an engrossing adventure… I recommend this intelligent and engaging book to anyone seeking an introduction to the relationship between language, thought, and culture.”
—Margery Lucas, PsycCritiques “This fabulously interesting book describes an area of intellectual history replete with brilliant leaps of intuition and crazy dead-ends. Guy Deutscher, who combines enthusiasm with scholarly pugnacity, is a vigorous and engaging guide to it… A remarkably rich, provocative, and intelligent work.”— Sam Leith, The Sunday Times (UK) “A brilliant account of linguistic research over two centuries… As befits a book about language, this inspiring amalgam of cultural history and science is beautifully written.”— Clive Cookson, Financial Times (UK) “A delight to read.”—Christopher Howse, The Spectator (UK) “Fascinating and well written… Deutschers scholarly and eloquent prose made the book an enjoyable read and I learnt lots of great anecdotes along the way.”—Alex Bellos, The Guardian (UK) “Deutscher writes as clearly and engagingly as can be… Will this study of language make you giddy? Oh, absolutely.”—Craig Brown, The Mail on Sunday (UK) “Jaw-droppingly wonderful… A marvelous and surprising book. The ironic, playful tone at the beginning gradates into something serious that is never pompous, something intellectually and historically complex and yet always pellucidly laid out. It left me breathless and dizzy with delight.”—Stephen Fry, presenter of Stephen Fry in America, host of QI, and author of Moab Is My Washpot “At once highly readable and thoroughly learned... Here is an important and original new history of the struggle to understand how language, culture, and thought are connected.”—Joan Bybee, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics, University of New Mexico
Review
•
The New York Times “Editors Choice”•
The Economist “Best Books of 2010”•
Financial Times “Best Books of 2010”
• Library Journal “Best Books of 2010” “Fascinating reading.… Deutscher does not merely weave little-known facts into an absorbing story. He also takes account of the vast changes in our perceptions of other races and cultures over the past two centuries.”— Derek Bickerton, The New York Times Book Review “An informative, pleasurable read… A gifted writer, Deutscher picks his way nimbly past overblown arguments to a sensible compromise.”—Amanda Katz, The Boston Globe “A thrilling and challenging ride.”— Christopher Schoppa, The Washington Post “Brilliantly surveys the differences words and grammar make between cultures.”—Carlin Romano, The Chronicle of Higher Education “A most entertaining book, easy to read but packed with fascinating detail.”—Michael Quinion, World Wide Words “Through The Language Glass is so robustly researched and wonderfully told that it is hard to put down… Deutscher brings together more than a centurys worth of captivating characters, incidents, and experiments that illuminate the relationship between words and mind… He makes a convincing case for the influence of language on thought, and in doing so he reveals as much about the way color words shape our perception as about the way that scientific dogma and fashion can blind us.”— Christine Kenneally, New Scientist “Entertainingly written and thought-provoking… Deutscher has a talent for making scientific history read like an engrossing adventure… I recommend this intelligent and engaging book to anyone seeking an introduction to the relationship between language, thought, and culture.”
—Margery Lucas, PsycCritiques “This fabulously interesting book describes an area of intellectual history replete with brilliant leaps of intuition and crazy dead-ends. Guy Deutscher, who combines enthusiasm with scholarly pugnacity, is a vigorous and engaging guide to it… A remarkably rich, provocative, and intelligent work.”— Sam Leith, The Sunday Times (UK) “A brilliant account of linguistic research over two centuries… As befits a book about language, this inspiring amalgam of cultural history and science is beautifully written.”— Clive Cookson, Financial Times (UK) “A delight to read.”—Christopher Howse, The Spectator (UK) “Fascinating and well written… Deutschers scholarly and eloquent prose made the book an enjoyable read and I learnt lots of great anecdotes along the way.”—Alex Bellos, The Guardian (UK) “Deutscher writes as clearly and engagingly as can be… Will this study of language make you giddy? Oh, absolutely.”—Craig Brown, The Mail on Sunday (UK) “Jaw-droppingly wonderful… A marvelous and surprising book. The ironic, playful tone at the beginning gradates into something serious that is never pompous, something intellectually and historically complex and yet always pellucidly laid out. It left me breathless and dizzy with delight.”—Stephen Fry, presenter of Stephen Fry in America, host of QI, and author of Moab Is My Washpot “At once highly readable and thoroughly learned... Here is an important and original new history of the struggle to understand how language, culture, and thought are connected.”—Joan Bybee, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics, University of New Mexico
Review
"For centuries, scholars have written of their desire to read the Book of Nature, even as they composed their own books in a gaggle of tongues. Today, however, scientists share their work in just one: English. That unprecedented linguistic winnowing--driven as much by utopian dreams as by the shattering disruptions of war--reveals far-ranging changes in how, where, why, and by whom science has been done. Fascinating."
Review
andquot;Massive, erudite, and engaging.andquot;
Review
andquot;Perceptive. . . . Gordinand#39;s scholarly assessment of these matters will not have Hollywood entrepreneurs scrambling for movie rights. But it is insightfully and engagingly written, a masterful mix of intelligence and style. He illuminates an important side of science with academic rigor, but without a trace of academic obfuscation. Itand#39;s a very pleasant example of the skillful use of language.andquot;
Synopsis
A masterpiece of linguistics scholarship, at once erudite and entertaining, confronts the thorny question of how—and whether—culture shapes language and language, cultureLinguistics has long shied away from claiming any link between a language and the culture of its speakers: too much simplistic (even bigoted) chatter about the romance of Italian and the goose-stepping orderliness of German has made serious thinkers wary of the entire subject. But now, acclaimed linguist Guy Deutscher has dared to reopen the issue. Can culture influence language—and vice versa? Can different languages lead their speakers to different thoughts? Could our experience of the world depend on whether our language has a word for "blue"?
Challenging the consensus that the fundaments of language are hard-wired in our genes and thus universal, Deutscher argues that the answer to all these questions is—yes. In thrilling fashion, he takes us from Homer to Darwin, from Yale to the Amazon, from how to name the rainbow to why Russian water—a "she"—becomes a "he" once you dip a tea bag into her, demonstrating that language does in fact reflect culture in ways that are anything but trivial. Audacious, delightful, and field-changing, Through the Language Glass is a classic of intellectual discovery.
Synopsis
Acclaimed linguist Deutscher asks if culture influences language--and vice versa? Can different languages lead their speakers to different thoughts? Challenging the consensus that the fundaments of language are universal, Deutscher argues that the answer to all these questions is--yes.
Synopsis
A New York Times Editors ChoiceAn Economist Best Book of 2010A Financial Times Best Book of 2010A Library Journal Best Book of 2010
The debate is ages old: Where does language come from? Is it an artifact of our culture or written in our very DNA? In recent years, the leading linguists have seemingly settled the issue: all languages are fundamentally the same and the particular language we speak does not shape our thinking in any significant way. Guy Deutscher says theyre wrong. From Homer to Darwin, from Yale to the Amazon, and through a strange and dazzling history of the color blue, Deutscher argues that our mother tongues do indeed shape our experiences of the world. Audacious, delightful, and provocative, Through the Language Glass is destined to become a classic of intellectual discovery.
About the Author
Guy Deutscher is the author of The Unfolding of Language. Formerly a fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and of the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Languages at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, he is an honorary research fellow at the School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures at the University of Manchester. He lives in Oxford, England.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Talking Science
Chapter 1: The Perfect Past That Almost Was
Chapter 2: The Table and the Word
Chapter 3: Hydrogen Oxygenovich
Chapter 4: Speaking Utopian
Chapter 5: The Wizards of Ido
Chapter 6: The Linguistic Shadow of the Great War
Chapter 7: Unspeakable
Chapter 8: The Dostoevsky Machine
Chapter 9: All the Russian Thatand#8217;s Fit to Print
Chapter 10: The Fe Curtain
Chapter 11: Anglophonia
Conclusion: Babel Beyond
Acknowledgments
List of Archives
Notes
Index