The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language - by Cristine Kenneally
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It doesn't take prescience to review a book before you read it, it just takes practice. I amaze myself in my ability to judge a book by its cover with an astonishing amount of postive correlations when I compare my superficial judgements with my opinions after a full read later. No, I don't read the flaps but I do read the chapter headings and look at the author's picture when available.
Enough talk. Here is my review of
THE FIRST WORD before I read it.
BeforeA fluff piece with no new ideas but Christine Kenneally's latest book does direct the lay reader towards contemporary understandings of language and its role in human culture.
Following the lead of many popular science books of today Christine Kenneally has filled most of her 357 pages with a tiring recapitulation of the thoughts of the pioneers of language genesis. But happily in Chapter I she debunks the tiresome babble of Noam Chomsky so that any serious trains of thought about the origins of language can get back on track without further blithering.
And (as she will report) progress is being made. In Section III - WHAT EVOLVES? - she outlines the long-overdue new understanding of the integral nature of language and culture. These three chapters - 12 SPECIES EVOLVE, 13 CULTURE EVOLVES, 14 WHY THINGS EVOLVE - will be worth the twenty-six bucks.
Because of the general value of the information in these three chapters I rate THE FIRST WORD
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***1/2 stars * Note:
This book will be reviewed again afer I read it next week. 
OP
