Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages [Paperback]

TheNew York TimesEditor's Choice
The EconomistBest Book of 2010
AFinancial TimesBest Book of 2010
ALibrary JournalBest Book of 2010

An informative, pleasurable read& A gifted writer, Deutscher picks his way nimbly past overblown arguments to a sensible compromise.The Boston Globe

From Homer to Darwin, from Yale to the Amazon, and through a strange and dazzling history of the color blue, the leading linguist argues that our mother tongues do indeed shape our experiences of the world.

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 they're wrong. Audacious, delightful, and provocative,Through the Language Glassis destined to become a classic of intellectual discovery.

Guy Deutscheris the author ofThe 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.

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.
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.
The Boston Globe

A thrilling and challenging ride.
The Washington Post
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