If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author. Steven pinker on bad and good writing why believe the sticklers. See all books authored by steven pinker, including the language instinct. I like to read books written this way because they are entertaining and interesting. Pinker is known for his wideranging explorations of human nature and its relevance to language, history, morality, politics, and everyday life. Steven pinker carries the banner for minimal, clear writingbut unfortunately, does not always follow the rules himself. Does writing well matter in an age of instant communication. Bestselling author, linguist and cognitive scientist steven pinker provides readers with a new writingguide for the twentyfirst century. Bestselling author, linguist and cognitive scientist steven pinker provides readers with a new writing guide for the twentyfirst century. Get the key points from this book in less than 10 minutes. Feb, 2018 steven pinker is one of the worlds leading authorities on language and the mind. Only steven pinker could have written this marvelous book, and thank heaven he has.
Read how the mind works by steven pinker available from rakuten kobo. The thinking persons guide to writing in the 21st century. How the mind works ebook by steven pinker rakuten kobo. The economist if 2017 was a rough year for you, look no further than steven pinkers engaging new book, enlightenment now, to cheer you up. Enlightenment now, steven pinker shop online for books in. The thinking persons guide to writing in the 21st century is a 2014 english style guide written by cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author steven pinker. Creationist biochemist michael behe, for example, argued that the irreducible complexity of biochemistry prevents incremental evolution of human nature and means that the human. He grew up in montreal and earned his ba from mcgill. Good explanations start with imagining what its like to. Steven pinker is the johnstone family professor of psychology at harvard university and the author of 10 books on language, mind, and human nature. Pinkers voice is calm, reasonable, benign, and you can easily see why hes one of harvards most popular lecturers. The thinking persons guide to writing in the 21st century, steven pinker basically.
Oct 03, 2014 leave it to a scientist to finally explain how to kill off bad writing. He explains what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and ponder the mysteries of life. Making sense of brainiac steven pinkers new book on writing. Bill gates if you think the world is coming to an end, think again. September 26, 2014 why academics stink at writing steven pinker. The purpose of writing is presentation, and its motive is disinterested truth. A wellstructured essay carries the reader along without a lot of signposting. In a prologue to the sense of style, subtitled a thinking persons guide to writing in the 21st century, the brain scientist steven pinker explains that hes been reading style. To take something on faith means to believe it without good reason, so by definition a faith in the existence of supernatural entities clashes with reason. Starting with what he calls a grammar gene, pinker describes the way primitives, children his special interest, even the deaf evolve natural languages responding. Steven pinker, writing with persuasiveness and craft, shows why th. Steven pinker has 46 books on goodreads with 643381 ratings. Steven pinkers most popular book is enlightenment now.
While pinker bases his argument on the innate nature of language, he situates language in that transitional area between instinct and learned behavior, between nature and culture. We personally assess every books quality and offer rare, outofprint treasures. Steven pinker is the johnstone family professor in the department of psychology at harvard university. Steven pinker author of the better angels of our nature. A twotime pulitzer prize finalist and the winner of many awards for his research, teaching, and books, he has been named one of times 100 most influential people in the world today and foreign policys 100 global thinkers. Pinker, a linguist at harvard university, discusses this socalled curse of knowledge in his latest book, the sense of style. Rock star psychologist steven pinker explains why forbes.
It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get it is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get. Im all for clarity, but this does seem to me to be an unfair jab at the softer fields. From all the pinker ive read how the mind works, the language instinct and the blank slate, i would say the language instinct appealed most to me because its not only a witty, entertaining, accessible introduction to linguistics, it also disc. Among them, in fact, is one that he wrote, the better angels of our nature. Leave it to a scientist to finally explain how to kill off bad writing. Oct 19, 2014 steven pinker, the harvard linguist and psychologist, is one of that new breed of topflight scientists and teachers, like the physicist brian greene and the evolutionary biologist richard dawkins.
May 23, 2018 steven arthur steve pinker is a canadianborn american cognitive scientist, psychologist, linguist, and popular science author. The blank slate summary by steven pinker overdrive. In the sense of style, the bestselling linguist and cognitive scientist steven pinker answers these questions and more. The most popular answer inside the academy is the selfserving one. The writer of classic prose must simulate two experiences. His popular and highly praised books include the better angels of our nature, the sense of style, the stuff of thought, the blank slate, how the mind works, and the language instinct. On the show this week we talk to celebrated harvard cognitive scientist and psycholinguist steven pinker about his new book the sense of style.
Nothing wrong with that, of course, although, as he acknowledges, he soon runs into a problem. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read how the mind works. Reverseengineering good prose as the key to developing a writerly ear the starting point. Its wreaking havoc in universities and jeopardizing the progress of research. Rethinking the usage guide for the twentyfirst century, pinker doesnt carp about the decline of language or recycle pet peeves from the rulebooks of a century ago. Frankly, i had only read snippets of steven pinkers other wellknown booksthe stuff of thought and the blank slateand was only just a little familiar with his style of writing and subject matter. Steven pinkers the sense of style the new york times. After two decades of writing popular books and articles about language. How the mind creates language, and how the mind works, and more on. Feb 28, 2018 steven pinker doesnt just want you to be happy. To think of this book as any kind of scholarly exercise is a category mistake. His popular and highly praised books include the stuff of thought, the blank slate, words and rules, how the mind works, and the language instinct. His popular and highly praised books include words and rules, how the mind works, and the language instinct.
Stream 54 steven pinker the science behind writing well by inquiring minds from desktop or your mobile device. Does writing well even matter in an age of instant communication. Thriftbooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. The psychologist and wordusage expert has produced a new style guide with cognitive sensibilities called the sense of style. The thinking persons guide to writing in the 21st century by steven pinker the sense of style is a scholarly and witty book on the art of writing well.
Pinker is the author of ten books, including the language instinct, how the mind works, the blank slate, the better angels of our nature, and most recently, the. Steven pinker has written a new and jaunty style guide. Discount prices on books by steven pinker, including titles like a bright future. Feb 26, 2018 steven pinker recommends books to make you an optimist theres hope for the environment, human progress is dazzling and the world, according to pg wodehouse, is beautiful steven pinker. How the mind works by steven pinker pdf book download. In this extraordinary book, steven pinker, one of the worlds leading cognitive scientists, does for the rest of the mind what he did for language in his 1994 bestseller the language instinct. Steven pinker is currently considered a single author. Earlier books and articles have made this point, as pinker acknowledges. Every human pastime music, cooking, sports, artdevelops an argot to spare its. Science says you can split infinitives and use the passive. Variously mellow, intense, and bemusedbut never boringpinker director, center for cognitive neurosciencemit, emphasizes darwinian theory and defines language as a biological. In this funny, thoughtful book about the modern art of writing, steven pinker shows us why we all need a sense of style. Buy the language instinct by steven pinker from waterstones today. Apr 23, 2012 steven pinker steven pinker is an experimental psychologist who conducts research in visual cognition, psycholinguistics, and social relations.
Nov 03, 2014 in a prologue to the sense of style, subtitled a thinking persons guide to writing in the 21st century, the brain scientist steven pinker explains that hes been reading style. Steven pinker recommends books to make you an optimist. Steven pinker, the harvard linguist and psychologist, is one of that new breed of topflight scientists and teachers, like the physicist brian greene and the evolutionary biologist richard dawkins. Feb 28, 2015 pinker is the author of ten books, including the language instinct, how the mind works, the blank slate, the better angels of our nature, and most recently, the sense of style. Gentle humour accompanies mr pinkers good sense throughout the book. He is the author of ten books, including the language instinct, how the mind works, the better angels of our nature, and the sense of style september.
The curse of knowledge, writes steven pinker, is the result of writers assuming readers understand the subject. Most leaders dont even know the game they are in simon sinek at live2lead 2016 duration. Steven arthur steve pinker is a canadianborn american cognitive scientist, psychologist, linguist, and popular science author. The language instinct by steven pinker waterstones. The recipient of several major awards for his teaching, books, and scientific. Zinssers on writing well, joseph williamss style or stephen kings on writing.
Linguistics, style and writing in the 21st century with. Pinker cites gates as one of the worlds leaders in fighting deadly infectious diseases. During his apsdavid myers distinguished lecture on the science and craft of teaching psychological science at the aps annual convention in new york city he. And for me the most recent example is the process of writing itself. This book is a work of a pioneer of the highly developing field called evolutionary psychology.
The purpose of pinkers laborious work is to reassure liberals that they are on the right side of history. A short and entertaining book on the modern art of writing well by new york times bestselling author steven pinker why is so much writing so bad, and how can we make it better. In the book, pinker a psychology professor at harvard university and the author of 10 books presents the big picture of human progress, according to. Steven pinker is the harvard college professor of psychology at harvard university. This is more of an outcome of intense research work than a mere psychology nonfiction. Steven arthur pinker born september 18, 1954 is a canadianamerican cognitive psychologist, linguist, and popular science author. Pinker has a knack tor making the profound seem obvious of evolutionary insights economist a fascinating bag a landmark in popular science independent a major public asset marekkohn, a model of scientific writing. He is johnstone family professor in the department of psychology at harvard university, and is known for his advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind. Drawing on the latest research in linguistics and cognitive science, steven pinker replaces the recycled dogma of style guides with. His new book, enlightenment now, is a spirited and exasperated rebuke to anyone who refuses to concede. Steven pinker books list of books by author steven pinker.
Steven arthur pinker is a prominent canadianamerican experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and author of popular science. Enlightenment now is magnificent, uplifting and makes you want to rush to your laptop and close your twitter account. Good writing can flip the way the world is perceived, he writes, and the. I love style manuals, declares steven pinker at the start of this guide to writing good prose. Steven pinker wants you to know humanity is doing fine. Pinker explains how to write in clear, classic prose that shares valuable information with clarity but never condescension. The argument of pinker and others that evolution contributed substantially to human nature and moral sense provoked attacks from the right, as well as the left. Short description of book how the mind works is a 1997 book by canadianamerican cognitive scientist steven pinker, in which the author attempts to explain some of the human minds poorly understood functions and quirks in evolutionary terms. Oct 06, 2015 steven pinker is the johnstone family professor of psychology at harvard university and the author of 10 books on language, mind, and human nature. Another in a series of books joel daviss mother tongue, p. Also, i hate it how, in these types of lamentations about the supposed poor state academic writing has found itself, clear writing is immediately equated with good writing, and vice versa, as if it were universally accepted that every single academic topic can be handled with short, tothepoint sentences. But, why is there so much bad writing out there, and how do you learn to write well. Early on in this monumental apologia for a currently fashionable version of enlightenment thinking, he writes. Finally, pinker plunges into what really sets this book apart.
A twotime pulitzer prize finalist and the winner of many awards for his research, teaching, and books, he has been named one of times 100 most influential people. On writing well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. Praise for the sense of style the sense of style is more contemporary and comprehensive than the elements of style, illustrated with comic strips and cartoons and lots of examples of comically bad writing. From the author of enlightenment now, a short and entertaining book on the modern art of writing well by new york times bestselling author steven pinker. Instant new york times bestseller a new york times notable book of 2018 one of the economists books of the year my new favorite book of all time. Steven pinker is one of the worlds leading authorities on language and the mind. Title how the mind works steven pinker pdf author steven pinker. In part 2 of this blog post, i will summarize some points from the stuff of thought, which i found even more interesting than the language instinctpinker points out areas where language gives us clues to how our minds. Rules of usage are well worth mastering, but they pale in importance.
Oct 08, 2014 the psychologist and wordusage expert has produced a new style guide with cognitive sensibilities called the sense of style. A short and entertaining book on the modern art of writing well by new york times bestselling author steven pinker why is so much writing so bad, and how can. Jun 26, 2009 steven pinker is a johnstone family professor in the department of psychology at harvard university. More than ever before, the currency of our social and cultural lives is the written word, from twitter and texting to blogs, ereaders and oldfashioned books.
Pinker is a gifted proponent of the classic style of writing he is trying to teach. Books by steven pinker author of the better angels of our. Steven pinker books list of books by steven pinker. He is johnstone family professor in the department of psychology at harvard university, and is known for his advocacy of evolutionary psychology and. If you want to hear steven pinker give a brief summary of the language instinct, here is a video taped in september, 2011. With wit, erudition, and deft use of everyday examples of humor and wordplay, pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling theory. This book felt like a chore to get through, whereas most other grammarfocused like elements of style come across as heavenly, enjoyable looks into the backend of language.
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