Patterns in the Mind: Language and Human Nature

PItM is a very interesting read -- a survey of linguistic, or perhaps more properly neuro-linguistic, thinking a decade or so ago. Since then, considerable advances have been made in the neurosciences, yet we are no closer to answering the fundamental questions Jackendorf poses about how and where, precisely, the brain 'does' language. PItM is, thus, no less compelling today for the passage of years since its publication. For anyone seeking a brief and easygoing introduction to the field, this is as fine a place as any to start.

I picked this up after reading William Calvin's "How Brains Think," which I thought was pretty exciting stuff. While Jackendoff does present some interesting thoughts on how our brains are probably pre-wired for certain abilities (he discusses innate patterns in language, vision, and, less convincingly, in my opinion, cultural adaptation) I was hoping for a more in-depth discussion of how we humans function as pattern recognizing machines, so to speak, and what that means about our brains and how we experience reality. This is really more about linguistics than about "patterns in the mind." Still, in all, an interesting read, and I learned a few cool things about the brain and how it works.