书名：The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature思想本质

作者：Steven Pinker
出版社名称：Penguin Books
出版时间：2008
语种：英文
ISBN：9780143114246
商品尺寸：13.8 x 2.7 x 21.3 cm
包装：平装
页数：512
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature《思想本质：语言是洞察人类天性之窗》是当代伟大思想家、世界语言学家和认知心理学家史蒂芬·平克的扛鼎之作，与《语言本能》同为“语言与人性”四部曲。

★当代伟大思想家、TED演讲人、世界语言学家和认知心理学家史蒂芬·平克经典力作
★语言学领域革命性著作，凝聚语言学、认知神经学和进化心理学等多项研究成果
★语言风趣诙谐，故事引人入胜，结论富有洞见

精彩书评
“《思想本质》是史蒂芬·平克继《语言本能》之后的另一部关于语言与人性的名作。史蒂芬·平克用丰富的证据进一步证实：语言是洞察人类天性之窗。平克教授先通过分析词语和思想以及周围环境的关系，向我们揭示了对自我本体的了解，以至词语表达的意义远胜于我们开始时的理解。同时，这也是一部为普通读者而写的有关语言和认知的科普书籍。作者用日常生活中的事例对这一主题进行了科学论证，为我们揭示了语言风格的本质。本书的章节安排和叙述方式，给人以深入浅出、如谈家常的亲切之感，真是让人爱不释手！”——胡壮麟外语学界前驱，北京大学资深教授

“与我同年同月出生的史蒂芬·平克教授是我们这一代语言研究工作者的骄傲。作为继乔姆斯基之后认知科学领域研究语言与心智关系的领军人物，平克在其可读性极强的著作中为我们开启了一扇进入人类心智本性的大门。”——梅德明著名语言学家，上海外国语大学教授

“平克是一颗明星，有他实乃科学界之幸。”——理查德·道金斯著名生物学家，畅销书《自私的基因》作者

“平克在一个令人生畏的研究主题中引入了迷人和诙谐的风格。这是一本有趣又很有分量的书。任何对语言感兴趣的人，都应该读一读《思想本质》。”——罗宾·莱考夫美国加州大学伯克利分校语言学教授

“这是一本读起来非常过瘾的书，幽默而又妙趣横生。《思想本质》不但让平克的同行们受益匪浅，也给大众上了一堂生动的认知科学课。”——侯世达美国印第安纳大学认知科学教授，畅销书《哥德尔、艾舍尔、巴赫》作者

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 writers. In The Stuff of Thought, Pinker presents a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. Considering scientific questions with examples from everyday life, The Stuff of Thought is a brilliantly crafted and highly readable work that will appeal to fans of everything from The Selfish Gene and Blink to Eats, Shoots & Leaves.
Review
“Engaging and provocative...filled with humor and fun.”  — Douglas Hofstadter,Los Angeles Times
“Pinker is a star, and the world of science is lucky to have him.”  — Richard Dawkins
“Curious, inventive, fearless, naughty.” —New York Times Book Review
“An important and inviting book.”  — Science
“There’s plenty of stuff to think about, but a lot of fun stuff too.”—Boston Globe
“Unfailingly engaging to read.” — New York Review of Books
一扇进入人类心智的窗户；

一次针对语言与思想之间的关系深刻的论述；
一些令人信服、生动有趣的例证；
一场思想之本质的探索之旅。
史蒂芬·平克，出生于加拿大蒙特利尔，1976年取得麦吉尔大学心理学学士学位，1979年取得哈佛大学实验心理学博士学位。

1982—2003年，在麻省理工学院脑与认知科学系任教，专心研究儿童的语言学习模式，并成为麻省理工学院认知神经学中心的掌门。1994年，他的《语言本能》一经出版，就成为轰动一时的畅销书，并入选《美国科学家》评出的20世纪100本科学书籍佳作。
2003年，被聘为哈佛大学心理学教授。2008—2013年，被授予哈佛学院荣誉教授头衔。
2004年，当选《时代》杂志全球100位有影响力人物。2010—2011年，两度被《外交政策》杂志评为专业思想家。在2013年《前景》杂志“伟大思想家”的评选中，平克名列第三。
Steven Pinkeris the Johnstone Family professor of Psychology and Harvard College Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. A two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and the winner of many awards for his research, teaching, and books, he has been named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World Today and Foreign Policy’s 100 Global Thinkers. His other books include The Better Angels of our Natureand The Blank Slate.
Preface  

1  Words and Worlds 
2  Down and Rabbit Hole
3  Fifty Thousand Innate Concepts (and Other Radical Theories of Language and Thought) 
4  Cleaving the Air
5  The Metaphor Metaphor
6  What’s in a Name? 
7  The Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television
8  Games People Play 
9  Escaping the Cave 
Notes
References
Index  

On September 11, 2001, at 8:46 A.M., a hijacked airliner crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York. At 9:03 A.M. a second plane crashed into the south tower. The resulting infernos caused the buildings to collapse, the south tower after burning for an hour and two minutes, the north tower twenty-three minutes after that. The attacks were masterminded by Osama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, who hoped to intimidate the United States into ending its military presence in Saudi Arabia and its support for Israel and to unite Muslims in preparation for a restoration of the caliphate.

9/11, as the happenings of that day are now called, stands as the most significant political and intellectual event of the twenty-first century so far. It has set off debates on a vast array of topics: how best to memorialize the dead and revitalize lower Manhattan; whether the attacks are rooted in ancient Islamic fundamentalism or modern revolutionary agitation; the role of the United States on the world stage before the attacks and in response to them; how best to balance protection against terrorism with respect for civil liberties.
But I would like to explore a lesser-known debate triggered by 9/11. Exactly how many events took place in New York on that morning in September?
It could be argued that the answer is one. The attacks on the buildings were part of a single plan conceived in the mind of one man in service of a single agenda. They unfolded within a few minutes and yards of each other, targeting the parts of a complex with a single name, design, and owner. And they launched a single chain of military and political events in their aftermath.
Or it could be argued that the answer is two. The north tower and the south tower were distinct collections of glass and steel separated by an expanse of space, and they were hit at different times and went out of existence at different times. The amateur video that showed the second plane closing in on the south tower as the north tower billowed with smoke makes the twoness unmistakable: in those horrifying moments, one event was frozen in the past, the other loomed in the future. And another occurrence on that day—a passenger mutiny that brought down a third hijacked plane before it reached its target in Washington—presents to the imagination the possibility that one tower or the other might have been spared. In each of those possible worlds a distinct event took place, so in our actual world, one might argue, there must be a pair of events as surely as one plus one equals two.
The gravity of 9/11 would seem to make this entire discussion frivolous to the point of impudence. It’s a matter of mere “semantics,” as we say, with its implication of picking nits, splitting hairs, and debating the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin. But this book is about semantics, and I would not make a claim on your attention if I did not think that the relation of language to our inner and outer worlds was a matter of intellectual fascination and real-world importance.