Scan barcode
kirahaynes's review against another edition
1.0
Dnf at page 40
I’ve never read a book that’s made me feel stupider
I’ve never read a book that’s made me feel stupider
thetbrstack's review against another edition
4.0
Good explanations of some complicated scientific theories and relationships.
dvargas's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
medium-paced
5.0
The topic itself and its content is too fascinating to not give it a 5-star-review!
Additionally, it is beautifully written, soundly composed and rhetorically brillant!
This book will change your view on the myriads of aspects of what makes every language so beautiful and fascinating.
Additionally, it is beautifully written, soundly composed and rhetorically brillant!
This book will change your view on the myriads of aspects of what makes every language so beautiful and fascinating.
bioniclib's review against another edition
3.0
Good stuff here. The low-ish ranking was more due to my trouble with colors than the book itself.
Here are the notes I took along the way:
French doesn’t have a single word that can mean what the English word, “mind” means. And English doesn’t have a single word that can mean what the French word “esprit” means. (14)
Hawaiian only has one word to cover the arm, hand, and finger. (16)
In chapter one. Homer’s “wine-dark sea” and other odd uses of color descriptors led Gladstone to assert Greeks were colorblind.
In chapter two, Geiger is asserting that how our eyes perceive color has evolved.
Magnus, the dude to took the ball from Geiger, asserted that the high-energy red was the first to be seen and the low-energy violet the last. He thinks we’ll eventually get to see ultraviolet. (49)
The problem with this theory is he had it backwards, red has the lowest energy, violet the highest. (76)
Proof that the language of color even in English is…problematic: Orange juice is yellow. (56)
A 1192 study by Revere Perkins found that the more complex the society (e.g. a tribe versus a democracy) the less complex the interna word structures. This means that the greater the morphological complexity of word, (ex: a single verb contains the tense, who is doing the action, where the action is being done) the less complex the society. (113)
The language of the Guugu Yimithirr tribe of Australia doesn’t have words for left and right or ever front and back, they use the cardinal directions instead. Proof that language can (but doesn’t always have to) change the way people see and function in the world, they will know which way North is no matter if they’re a stranger in a strange land of or in a windowless room. (Chapter 7)
Here are the notes I took along the way:
French doesn’t have a single word that can mean what the English word, “mind” means. And English doesn’t have a single word that can mean what the French word “esprit” means. (14)
Hawaiian only has one word to cover the arm, hand, and finger. (16)
In chapter one. Homer’s “wine-dark sea” and other odd uses of color descriptors led Gladstone to assert Greeks were colorblind.
In chapter two, Geiger is asserting that how our eyes perceive color has evolved.
Magnus, the dude to took the ball from Geiger, asserted that the high-energy red was the first to be seen and the low-energy violet the last. He thinks we’ll eventually get to see ultraviolet. (49)
The problem with this theory is he had it backwards, red has the lowest energy, violet the highest. (76)
Proof that the language of color even in English is…problematic: Orange juice is yellow. (56)
A 1192 study by Revere Perkins found that the more complex the society (e.g. a tribe versus a democracy) the less complex the interna word structures. This means that the greater the morphological complexity of word, (ex: a single verb contains the tense, who is doing the action, where the action is being done) the less complex the society. (113)
The language of the Guugu Yimithirr tribe of Australia doesn’t have words for left and right or ever front and back, they use the cardinal directions instead. Proof that language can (but doesn’t always have to) change the way people see and function in the world, they will know which way North is no matter if they’re a stranger in a strange land of or in a windowless room. (Chapter 7)
sevenlefts's review against another edition
5.0
The language we speak informs the way we look at the world. But can it actually change the way our brains work? This book looks at several examples of languages around the world and looks into experiments that reveal how these languages' uses of direction, tense and gender actually seem to have an affect on how our minds are wired.
The writing, explanations and illustrations are all quite clear. I so enjoyed his writing style. Deutscher mentions several times in the book that English is not his mother tongue. I wish I was half so eloquent in my native language as he is in my native language -- which probably could have been put much more clearly and wittily.
I'll be thinking about the ideas put forth in this book for quite some time.
The writing, explanations and illustrations are all quite clear. I so enjoyed his writing style. Deutscher mentions several times in the book that English is not his mother tongue. I wish I was half so eloquent in my native language as he is in my native language -- which probably could have been put much more clearly and wittily.
I'll be thinking about the ideas put forth in this book for quite some time.
fjette's review against another edition
funny
informative
medium-paced
3.25
Good! Interesting, accessible. My experience was broken up by reading a bunch of other books alongside it. Good deconstruction of Sapir-Whorf, and effective rebuilding of what does work.