Steven Pinker

This New York Times bestseller is an exciting and fearless investigation of language
Bestselling author Steven Pinker possesses that rare combination of scientific aptitude and verbal eloquence that enables him to provide lucid explanations of deep and powerful ideas. His previous books?including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Blank Slate?have catapulted him into the limelight as one of today?s most important popular science...

Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millennia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species' existence. For most of history, war, slavery, infanticide, child abuse, assassinations,...

"A model of scientific writing: erudite, witty, and clear." —New York Review of Books

In this Pulitzer Prize finalist and national bestseller, one of the world's leading cognitive scientists tackles the workings of the human mind. What makes us rational—and why are we so often irrational? How do we see in three dimensions? What makes us happy, afraid, angry, disgusted, or sexually aroused? Why do we fall in love?

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In a study of the nature versus nurture debate, one of the world's foremost experts on language and the mind explores the modern self-denial of our basic human natures.

How does language work? How do we learn to speak? Why do languages change? Why do they have so many quirks? What does language reveal about the mind? Steven Pinker explores the mysteries of language in this original and hugely entertaining book. Pinker uses a deceptively simple phenomenon--regular and irregular verbs--to illuminate an astonishing array of topics: the history of languages, what we can learn from children's grammatical mistakes, the...

From the Publisher: In this classic, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution. The Language...

In a study of the nature versus nurture debate, one of the world's foremost experts on language and the mind explores the modern self-denial of our basic human natures.

Is the English language being corrupted by texting and social media? Rethinking the usage guide for the 21st century, Pinker applies insights to the challenge of crafting clear, coherent, and stylish prose. He tells how writing depends on imagination, empathy, coherence, grammatical knowhow, and an ability to savor and reverse engineer the good prose of others. He shares how the art of writing can be a form of pleasurable mastery and a fascinating...

Pinker's seminal research explores the workings of language and its connections to cognition, perception, social relationships, child development, human evolution, and theories of human nature. This eclectic collection spans Pinker's thirty-year career, exploring his favorite themes in greater depth and scientific detail. It includes thirteen of Pinker's classic articles, ranging over topics such as language development in children, mental imagery,...

Revised fifth edition contains 10,000 new words and senses, over 4,000 ... new full-color images, and authoritative, up-to-date guidance on usage from the ... American Heritage Usage Panel ... Thousands of definitions have been revised in rapidly changing fields such as astronomy and biology, geographical entries and maps have been completely updated, and the dictionary's signature feature notes on word history, synonymy, and language variation have...