Description

“Guy Deutscher is that rare beast, an academic who talks good sense about linguistics… he argues in a playful and provocative way, that our mother tongue does indeed affect how we think and, just as important, how we perceive the world.” Observer

*Does language reflect the culture of a society?
*Is our mother-tongue a lens through which we perceive the world?
*Can different languages lead their speakers to different thoughts?

In Through the Language Glass, acclaimed author Guy Deutscher will convince you that, contrary to the fashionable academic consensus of today, the answer to all these questions is – yes. A delightful amalgam of cultural history and popular science, this book explores some of the most fascinating and controversial questions about language, culture and the human mind.

Publisher Review

A delight to read * Spectator * So robustly researched and wonderfully told that it is hard to put down * New Scientist * Brilliant [and] beautifully written * Financial Times * Fabulously interesting ... a remarkably rich, provocative and intelligent work of pop science * Sunday Times * Jaw-droppingly wonderful ... A marvellous and surprising book which left me breathless and dizzy with delight. The ironic, playful tone at the beginning gradates into something serious that is never pompous, intellectually and historically complex and yet always pellucidly laid out. Plus I learned the word plaidoyer which I shall do my utmost to use every day * Stephen Fry *