I have at last finished reading all 448 pages of “The Language Instinct” by Steven Pinker.  (This count does not include the 78 pages of notes, glossary and index, which I was more than happy to skip over.)

As usual, I do not intend to review this book but will just share a few general impressions.  This is the second Steven Pinker work I have read — the other was “The Stuff of Thought” in 2007.  I had enjoyed “The Stuff of Thought” and so I was looking forward to this read.   But I did not realize when I started “The Language Instinct” that Pinker wrote it in 1994.  The content felt dated to me and the arguments too familiar.  “The Stuff of Thought” was  tighter and more interesting, and I would recommend it over “The Language Instinct.”

One other note.  The older I get, the more impatient I am with writers who use more words than necessary to get to the point (writers who are not concise, that is!)  Pinker tends to use many more illustrations and examples to support an argument or convey an idea than I think are necessary, and I doubt that I am more quick-witted than his average reader.  Yes, assertions need to be supported, but after a while, Pinker’s elaborations grow less and less entertaining and feel more like padding.  Douglas Hofstadter and Jared Diamond are two other authors who I have found do the same.

With non-fiction, what I look for is some unusual insight or new way of thinking about a given topic.  I only need the work to be entertaining enough so it does not put me to sleep before I have a chance to learn something from it.

My next read?  Well, I changed my mind — it will not be about the causes of World War I.   I need a break from non-fiction!  My next read will be “Ride,” a novel by David A. Walton, my creative-writing professor in 1970 (and again in 1973).  I thought it was about time that I returned the favor by reading something he has written.  His novel, published in 2002, has been favorably reviewed but I will soon let you know how I, his former student and therefore expert on such matters, liked it.  Can you wait?