Listen free for 30 days
-
The Language Instinct
- How the Mind Creates Language
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 55 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $32.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
You may also enjoy...
-
How the Mind Works
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this delightful, acclaimed bestseller, one of the world’s leading cognitive scientists tackles the workings of the human mind. What makes us rational—and why are we so often irrational? How do we see in three dimensions? What makes us happy, afraid, angry, disgusted, or sexually aroused? Why do we fall in love? And how do we grapple with the imponderables of morality, religion, and consciousness?
-
-
great, but slow at times
- By ben kuzmich on 2018-07-07
Written by: Steven Pinker
-
The Stuff of Thought
- Language as a Window into Human Nature
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Dean Olsher
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker marries two of the subjects he knows best: language and human nature. The result is a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. What does swearing reveal about our emotions? Why does innuendo disclose something about relationships? Pinker reveals how our use of prepositions and tenses taps into peculiarly human concepts of space and time, and how our nouns and verbs speak to our notions of matter.
-
-
It’s not in Steven Pinkers written words
- By Lory Nixon on 2019-05-05
Written by: Steven Pinker
-
The Spinning Magnet
- The Electromagnetic Force that Created the Modern World - and Could Destroy It
- Written by: Alanna Mitchell
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A cataclysmic planetary phenomenon is gathering force deep within the Earth. The magnetic North Pole will eventually trade places with the South Pole. Satellite evidence suggests to some scientists that the move has already begun, but most still think it won't happen for many decades. All agree that it has happened many times before and will happen again. But this time it will be different. It will be a very bad day for modern civilization.
-
-
Worth a credit!!
- By clevrgrl on 2018-06-01
Written by: Alanna Mitchell
-
The Blind Watchmaker
- Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
- Written by: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Blind Watchmaker, knowledgably narrated by author Richard Dawkins, is as prescient and timely a book as ever. The watchmaker belongs to the 18th-century theologian William Paley, who argued that just as a watch is too complicated and functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery challenged the creationist arguments; but only Richard Dawkins could have written this elegant riposte.
-
-
Excellent Discussion
- By Langer MD on 2020-02-23
Written by: Richard Dawkins
-
The Burgundians
- A Vanished Empire: A History of 1111 Years and One Day
- Written by: Bart van Loo, Nancy Forest-Flier - translator
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 21 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundy was extinguished as an independent state. It had been a fabulously wealthy, turbulent region situated between France and Germany, with close links to the English kingdom. Torn apart by the dynastic struggles of early modern Europe, this extraordinary realm vanished from the map. But it became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the story of a thousand years, a must-listen narrative history of ambitious aristocrats, family dysfunction, treachery, savage battles, luxury, and madness.
Written by: Bart van Loo, and others
-
Fuzz
- When Nature Breaks the Law
- Written by: Mary Roach
- Narrated by: Mary Roach
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology.
-
-
An amazing book !
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-06-18
Written by: Mary Roach
-
How the Mind Works
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this delightful, acclaimed bestseller, one of the world’s leading cognitive scientists tackles the workings of the human mind. What makes us rational—and why are we so often irrational? How do we see in three dimensions? What makes us happy, afraid, angry, disgusted, or sexually aroused? Why do we fall in love? And how do we grapple with the imponderables of morality, religion, and consciousness?
-
-
great, but slow at times
- By ben kuzmich on 2018-07-07
Written by: Steven Pinker
-
The Stuff of Thought
- Language as a Window into Human Nature
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Dean Olsher
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker marries two of the subjects he knows best: language and human nature. The result is a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. What does swearing reveal about our emotions? Why does innuendo disclose something about relationships? Pinker reveals how our use of prepositions and tenses taps into peculiarly human concepts of space and time, and how our nouns and verbs speak to our notions of matter.
-
-
It’s not in Steven Pinkers written words
- By Lory Nixon on 2019-05-05
Written by: Steven Pinker
-
The Spinning Magnet
- The Electromagnetic Force that Created the Modern World - and Could Destroy It
- Written by: Alanna Mitchell
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A cataclysmic planetary phenomenon is gathering force deep within the Earth. The magnetic North Pole will eventually trade places with the South Pole. Satellite evidence suggests to some scientists that the move has already begun, but most still think it won't happen for many decades. All agree that it has happened many times before and will happen again. But this time it will be different. It will be a very bad day for modern civilization.
-
-
Worth a credit!!
- By clevrgrl on 2018-06-01
Written by: Alanna Mitchell
-
The Blind Watchmaker
- Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
- Written by: Richard Dawkins
- Narrated by: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Blind Watchmaker, knowledgably narrated by author Richard Dawkins, is as prescient and timely a book as ever. The watchmaker belongs to the 18th-century theologian William Paley, who argued that just as a watch is too complicated and functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery challenged the creationist arguments; but only Richard Dawkins could have written this elegant riposte.
-
-
Excellent Discussion
- By Langer MD on 2020-02-23
Written by: Richard Dawkins
-
The Burgundians
- A Vanished Empire: A History of 1111 Years and One Day
- Written by: Bart van Loo, Nancy Forest-Flier - translator
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 21 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundy was extinguished as an independent state. It had been a fabulously wealthy, turbulent region situated between France and Germany, with close links to the English kingdom. Torn apart by the dynastic struggles of early modern Europe, this extraordinary realm vanished from the map. But it became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the story of a thousand years, a must-listen narrative history of ambitious aristocrats, family dysfunction, treachery, savage battles, luxury, and madness.
Written by: Bart van Loo, and others
-
Fuzz
- When Nature Breaks the Law
- Written by: Mary Roach
- Narrated by: Mary Roach
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology.
-
-
An amazing book !
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-06-18
Written by: Mary Roach
-
The Heartbeat of Trees
- Embracing Our Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature
- Written by: Peter Wohlleben
- Narrated by: Mike Grady
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Heartbeat of Trees, renowned forester Peter Wohlleben draws on new scientific discoveries to show how humans are deeply connected to the natural world. In an era of climate change, many of us fear we’ve lost our connection to nature - but Peter Wohlleben is convinced that age-old ties linking humans to the forest remain alive and intact. We just have to know where to look.
-
-
you need to read this
- By Anonymous User on 2023-04-13
Written by: Peter Wohlleben
-
The Better Angels of Our Nature
- Why Violence Has Declined
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 36 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millennia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species's existence.
-
-
Better read than listened to
- By Mike Reiter on 2018-01-02
Written by: Steven Pinker
-
How Iceland Changed the World
- The Big History of a Small Island
- Written by: Egill Bjarnason
- Narrated by: Einar Gunn
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The history of Iceland began 1,200 years ago, when a frustrated Viking captain and his useless navigator ran aground in the middle of the North Atlantic. Suddenly, the island was no longer just a layover for the Arctic tern. Instead, it became a nation whose diplomats and musicians, sailors and soldiers, volcanoes and flowers, quietly altered the globe forever. How Iceland Changed the World takes readers on a tour of history, showing them how Iceland played a pivotal role in events as diverse as the French Revolution, the Moon Landing, and the foundation of Israel.
-
-
This is a Wonderful book!
- By Duncan Day on 2021-10-20
Written by: Egill Bjarnason
-
Your Brain Is a Time Machine
- The Neuroscience and Physics of Time
- Written by: Dean Buonomano
- Narrated by: Aaron Abano
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Your Brain Is a Time Machine, brain researcher and best-selling author Dean Buonomano draws on evolutionary biology, physics, and philosophy to present his influential theory of how we tell and perceive time. The human brain, he argues, is a complex system that not only tells time but creates it; it constructs our sense of chronological flow and enables "mental time travel" - simulations of future and past events.
-
-
Ok
- By Mark on 2021-07-25
Written by: Dean Buonomano
-
Frida
- A Biography of Frida Kahlo
- Written by: Hayden Herrera
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hailed by listeners and critics across the country, this engrossing biography of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo reveals a woman of extreme magnetism and originality, an artist whose sensual vibrancy came straight from her own experiences: her childhood near Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution; a devastating accident at age eighteen that left her crippled and unable to bear children; her tempestuous marriage to muralist Diego Rivera and intermittent love affairs with men as diverse as Isamu Noguchi and Leon Trotsky.
Written by: Hayden Herrera
-
The Scout Mindset
- Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't
- Written by: Julia Galef
- Narrated by: Julia Galef
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When it comes to what we believe, humans see what they want to see. In other words, we have what Julia Galef calls a "soldier" mindset. From tribalism and wishful thinking, to rationalizing in our personal lives and everything in between, we are driven to defend the ideas we most want to believe - and shoot down those we don't.
-
-
Really fun! Excellent performance!
- By Joseph A. on 2021-07-21
Written by: Julia Galef
-
Hermeticism Philosophy Collection
- The Kybalion, Corpus Hermeticum, The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean and The Life and Teachings of Hermes Trismegistus
- Written by: Three Initiates, Hermes Trismegistus, M. Doreal, and others
- Narrated by: Roberto Scarlato
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Passing from lip to ear, the philosophies of Hermes Trismegistus have been passed down through thousands of years. Listen as this tradition continues in this audio compilation of The Kybalion, Corpus Hermeticum, The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean, and The Life and Teachings of Hermes Trismegistus. This unprecedented collection will provide the foundation of the Hermetic Philosophy.
Written by: Three Initiates, and others
-
The WEIRDest People in the World
- How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
- Written by: Joseph Henrich
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich draws on cutting-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explore these questions and more. He illuminates the origins and evolution of family structures, marriage, and religion, and the profound impact these cultural transformations had on human psychology. Mapping these shifts through ancient history and late antiquity, Henrich reveals that the most fundamental institutions of kinship and marriage changed dramatically under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church.
-
-
not what I thought
- By Tina on 2022-12-29
Written by: Joseph Henrich
-
Drunk
- How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization
- Written by: Edward Slingerland
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While plenty of entertaining books have been written about the history of alcohol and other intoxicants, none have offered a comprehensive, convincing answer to the basic question of why humans want to get high in the first place. Drunk elegantly cuts through the tangle of urban legends and anecdotal impressions that surround our notions of intoxication to provide the first rigorous, scientifically grounded explanation for our love of alcohol.
-
-
Great book
- By Scott R on 2023-10-03
Written by: Edward Slingerland
-
The Thirty Years War
- Europe's Tragedy
- Written by: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 33 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world.
-
-
An amazing performance for an incomprehensible book
- By F. Toro on 2024-02-28
Written by: Peter H. Wilson
-
The Alignment Problem
- Machine Learning and Human Values
- Written by: Brian Christian
- Narrated by: Brian Christian
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Today's "machine-learning" systems, trained by data, are so effective that we've invited them to see and hear for us - and to make decisions on our behalf. But alarm bells are ringing. Systems cull résumés until, years later, we discover that they have inherent gender biases. Algorithms decide bail and parole - and appear to assess black and white defendants differently. We can no longer assume that our mortgage application, or even our medical tests, will be seen by human eyes. And autonomous vehicles on our streets can injure or kill.
-
-
Great insight into how machines learn
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-12-01
Written by: Brian Christian
-
The Sense of Style
- The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
- Written by: Steven Pinker
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Sense of Style, the best-selling linguist and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker answers these questions and more. Rethinking the usage guide for the 21st century, Pinker doesn’t carp about the decline of language or recycle pet peeves from the rulebooks of a century ago. Instead, he applies insights from the sciences of language and mind to the challenge of crafting clear, coherent, and stylish prose.
-
-
Grammar for days
- By Julie on 2018-08-21
Written by: Steven Pinker
Publisher's Summary
In this classic, the world’s expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you always wanted to know about language: how it works, how children learn it, how it changes, how the brain computes it, and how it evolved. With deft use of examples of humor and wordplay, Steven Pinker weaves our vast knowledge of language into a compelling story: language is a human instinct, wired into our brains by evolution.
The Language Instinct received the William James Book Prize from the American Psychological Association and the Public Interest Award from the Linguistics Society of America. This edition includes an update on advances in the science of language since The Language Instinct was first published.
What the critics say
More from the same
What listeners say about The Language Instinct
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alexandre L'Écuyer
- 2019-06-26
Fantastic! ...but not as an audiobook.
If you're serious about reading this book, and you're certain you want to listen to it instead of read it, I highly recommend a pen, notebook, descriptive page on Markov Chains, and an iron will. I might be dumb, but this book is just plain hard to keep up with, especially when many complex ideas are vomitted at you one after another without you ever having a chance at visualizing and/or digesting them. God forbid you try to multitask with this book, or set it as your morning alarm. The chapter on the biology of speech nearly killed me.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2021-11-22
Great book
This is a fantastic book, greatly informative and insightful. Some of the explanations can be a bit long winded but it's worth it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RandomAccount007
- 2024-05-10
Classic Pinker but not his best
This is an earlier work form pinker and he gets into some esoteric things without that same level of wit and interesting components. Still tremendous as always from him.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!