The Language Instinct: The New Science of Language and Mind (Penguin Science)
memoirs on a rainy day (Free subscription) | yesterday
Lloyd explains why Pinker and Gladwell don’t agree, which is partly based upon Gladwell’s new book, What the Dog Saw., a collection of essays that were published in the New Yorker. Posted in asides, entertainment, politics-social-racism Tagged: asides, books, malcolm gladwell, Neal Stephenson, New Yorker, social, Steven Pinker, what the dog saw [...]
** Science On Tap... ** (Free subscription) | yesterday
Robert Wright and Steven Pinker in an interesting hour-long dialogue from a recent "Bloggingheads.TV": Rvar gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); ); http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/24005 Rvar gaJsHost = (("https:" ==
3quarksdaily (Free subscription) | 24/11/2009
Malcolm Gladwell responds to Steven Pinker's review of his new book: I wondered about the basis of Pinker’s conclusion, so I e-mailed him, asking if he could tell me where to find the scientific data that would set me straight....
Lone Gunman (Free subscription) | 24/11/2009
... one that seems to have struck a nerve with Gladwell , comes from cognitive scientist and author Steven Pinker. If you want to read more about these criticisms, Seed summarises many of them in an article that looks evenly at the various disagreements and looks at how, in popular science writing, “where statistical rigor is actually applied, it takes the discussion to a level of abstraction...
Accelerating Future (Free subscription) | 21/11/2009
I doubt my fixation on Pinker will end anytime soon, because his book How the Mind Works was the single most illuminating work of cognitive science I’ve read, even though it was a popular work.
Althouse (Free subscription) | 21/11/2009
On Bloggingheads. They're talking about language and evolution.
The Wages of Wins Journal (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
A few days ago I was reading Marginal Revolution and I came across the following: Pinker reviews Gladwell. A few months ago I saw Steven Pinker – a Harvard psychologist — in a rather lengthy interview on C-SPAN. After the interview I ordered Pinker’s latest book: The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human [...]
DB's Medical Rants (Free subscription) | 6 hours ago
Readers know that I admire Malcolm Gladwell's writings. Many scientists do not like him. This article explains the issue well – Malcolm Gladwell and Steven Pinker duel over balancing scientific rigor with relatable narrative, while the future of personal genomics goes under the microscope. Malcolm Gladwell is a rare figure: A science journalist who is loved [...] Related posts:...
Stephen Baker - The Numerati (Free subscription) | yesterday
I'm only catching up now to Steven Pinker's skewering of Malcolm Gladwell in a New York Times book review. (What is it these best-selling authors have against each other? A few months back, Gladwell took Chris Anderson to task.) Pinker criticizes Gladwell for his lack of ...quot;technical grounding....quot; As I read it, I thought, ...quot;Jeez, if only my book had been the mega...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 23/11/2009
Our survey of the noughties' highlights continues with a year that brought new work from Kundera, an exciting debut from Kunzru, and contentious pop science from Stephen Pinker Ah, 2002. Authors cross with Amazon , libraries one step away from destruction , and Catherine Millet publishes an awful book about sex . Seems like a different world. Our literary look-back at the highs and lows of...
Daniel Lubetzky (Free subscription) | 22/11/2009
I’ve always enjoyed reading Malcolm Gladwell, and yet some of his over-simplified discoveries have troubled me because they often ignore some logical alternatives to his explanations. Now in the New York Times Book Review, Steven Pinker elaborates on this problem. An eclectic essayist is necessarily a dilettante, which is not in itself a bad thing. [...]
John Hawks Anthropology Weblog (Free subscription) | 22/11/2009
A club I won't be joining, from Improbable Research : Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists™ The first member, chosen by acclamation, was psychologist Steven Pinker, whose hair has long been the object of admiration, and envy, and intense study. From that lone, Pinkerian seed, there has grown a spreading chestnut, black, blond, and red-haired membership tree, which...
3quarksdaily (Free subscription) | 23/11/2009
Dear Readers, Writers, Bloggers, In May of this year we announced that we would start awarding four prizes every year for the best blog writing in the areas of science, philosophy, politics, and arts & literature. We awarded the science prizes , judged by Steven Pinker, on June 21st, and then announced the winners of the philosophy prizes , judged by Daniel C. Dennett, on September 22....
Inductivist (Free subscription) | 22/11/2009
Academics disgust me. This week was the second time that I witnessed what looks very much like anti-military discrimination. We were doing telephone interviews for a replacement position, and one candidate seemed particularly strong. Great vita. Ivy League. Post-doc at an impressive place. Good publications. Then I heard the man speak. I literally thought to myself, "This guy sounds like Steven...
Vox Popoli (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009
Steven Pinker bitchslaps Gladwell : What Malcolm Gladwell calls a “lonely ice floe” is what psychologists call “the mainstream.” In a 1997 editorial in the journal Intelligence, 52 signatories wrote, “I.Q. is strongly related, probably more so than any other single measurable human trait, to many important educational, occupational, economic and social outcomes.”...
