The Language Puzzle by Steven Mithen was among my most anticipated 2024 releases. I usually don't get to read new releases until a few years later, so I was extremely grateful that I got approved for an ARC of this. Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, Basic Books for making that happen in exchange for my honest review 💜

The basic idea behind the book is that science is still not 100% sure how language originally came about, so the author figured if he pieced together the latest findings from archeology, linguistics, anthropology, psychology, and genetics like a puzzle, he would get the complete picture and would probably arrive at a solution.

You can pick up this book even if you don't know anything about linguistics. It goes back to the very basics, down to what a phoneme or morpheme is. The same goes for other topics, their basics are all painstakingly described before we get into it: the prehistory of humans, the structure of the brain, etc. That actually made me ponder whether all that was necessary and maybe the book could have been shorter without these explanations (it's ~600 pages long). However, I understand that the author's concept required him to paint a comprehensive picture.

While I said you don't need to be an expert in any of the topics to understand the book, I think it helps if you're REALLY interested in linguistics and anthropology. Without that, I'm not sure how enjoyable an experience it would be.

I am, luckily, extremely invested in all these fields, so the whole ride was a fun and eye-opening one. I did enjoy certain chapters more than others because of where my interests lie. I liked the ones about how infants pick up language and how they figure out which of the things they hear are words (super interesting), and the one about the brain and how it processes language (I'm always fascinated by brain stuff).

All in all, this is mandatory for all the language/archeology geeks out there (even better if you're both) and for those who are ready to tackle a 600-page book that doesn't go easy on the science lingo and data. It is very rewarding if you give it a chance and stick with it!

• The arc got archieved before I got a chance to really sink my teeth into it but the 2 chapters I read reaffirmed my desire to read it. I'll look for a finished copy and continue reading it that way.

Mind-blowing. A combination of some of my favourite things: neanderthals, language and ancient history. This popular science book tackles everything from how language started to where it is now.

Have you ever wondered how language started? Did two or more people try to gesture that certain things should have a vocal word for it? How could they even communicate, ‘hey’s let’s discuss making meaningful sounds’? And then what, how did they agree on words? Was it convention or just a few words at a time? This stuff fascinates me.

Did we evolve from chimpanzees? Apparently yes. But how? How do you just get taller, change the way you walk, the way you talk??? How does your face change, the size and shape of your brain??

This book has taken me on a journey of the how and why this is possible, with an ongoing layer on how speech began, evolved, and still evolves. I’ve gone from trusting genetic breakthroughs and a firm understanding of evolution, to an in depth one that breaks down the categories that make it all possible. And these categories are…pieces of the Language Puzzle. This structure has made it so much easier to understand.

In order for language to be where it is today, we needed many puzzle pieces. If neanderthals migrated the way our earlier ancestors did, would their speech have evolved? Would they have not gone extinct? The answers are here.

It took some time to get my head around some preexisting biases, mostly around small changes over long periods of time that result in drastic differences. We sort of resemble chimpanzees but can we really change that much to become bipedal, to have different head and facial structures? I won’t bore you with my ponderings but it took a lot to accept it for myself. This book answered many of my nagging questions.

I think a lot of readers of this book will have different lightbulb moments as some categories/puzzle pieces make more sense than others. One of my favourites was brain shape and size. To give birth to young with relatively larger heads would hurt a lot, right? So, how to biologically get around that dilemma…the brain continues to develop after birth. With that being the case, it can change based on the current environment around them. No instinctive language needed, it learns on the go. That’s my only mini spoiler, the rest you’ll have to discover for yourself.

That was just one snippet of insight into the book. There are many potential puzzle pieces that may fascinate other readers: how do babies learn language, singers might be interested in how the shape of the throat, mouth, nose affect tone and speech (compared with those of our ancestors)? How does working as a group or learning a trade affect language? There needs to be a way to co-ordinate the hunt or make the weapons, right? English teachers and language learners might enjoy the evolution of grammar and how word meanings change over time and how distance affects languages. Like when does a dialect become a different language altogether?

I rate this book a full 5 stars as the level of amazement was well beyond anything I’ve read in the popular science category. There are only two things that could improve the book in my opinion. In the category chapters (not intro or final wrap up), sometimes it was unclear where the research of others stopped and the author’s conclusions began. Or in other words, ‘is this the old theory or the new?’. Also, even though it’s a bit basic or for kids…I kinda wanted to see the jigsaw puzzle at the end. Each puzzle piece was fully explained including how it relates to the other pieces. It’s just the title has a jigsaw in it, so I wanted one too.

Ps 311 pages plus citations and references. Don’t be put off by the page count!

Thanks to NetGalley and Basic Books for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a great and interesting read!

Language is such a fascinating topic, which is why I was so eager to start this book and I wasn't disappointed. Of course we all learn about evolution and just how many millennia it took for humans to arrive at the place we are now, but it has never occurred to me just how many evolutionary changes had to happen for us to be to develop language at all - the neurons, the muscles, the brain capacity, the face shape.

The book is very well-researched, citing the work and studies of many different scientist, and you can immediately tell the author has a lot of experience in this field.

The narrative of the book as many different pieces being put together to complete a puzzle is very compelling. It takes you through the history of humankind, starting with the last common ancestor between humans and apes and established our understanding of language through archaeology, biology, linguistics and many other fields.

I personally found the subject of weaponry a bit extensive and repetitive, though the author has shown how vital it was for the evolution of language over the course of thousands of years. I would've loved even more focus on linguistics and different languages, as I found those parts the most interesting.

In my personal opinion, I think the book distinguishes itself from other popular science literature, because it was structured more like a research paper, which isn't a bad thing at all, but could make it difficult for engage with it. Still I would definitely recommend it to anybody with an interest in this topic, because there were so much new information and worthwhile details.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eArc.

The Language Puzzle by Steven Mithen

Well-researched, informative and interesting book about evolution of language. I did enjoy a lot reading this book. It was easy to follow and understand. The author was not playing with difficult wordings.

We communicate with others by using different methods, language is one of it. The author also researched on our close relative - monkeys and apes. I also love reading the chapter that introducing how language is changing. This is the book that related to our daily lives which I truly enjoy!

Many thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for my copy.

Pub date: Jun 18, 2024

The idea of understanding and knowing how the human language evolved is super interisting to me. The book explains and talks about the authors beliefs about the birth of language (written, spoken and signaled) with the help of cientific reasearchs made in various areas. The narrative goes from all the humans before the Homo Sapiens to showing communication between other primates, like the chimpanzees, talks about the importance of fire for brain and language devolopment, how children learn to talk and a lot of other things. In general I found it interisting and liked to discover all this new information, but sometimes the narrative became a little dry and the explanations about more specific knowledge were not so easy to understand. But I liked and it give me many things to think over.

*Thank You Netgalley and Basic Books for the ARC*

Approachable and readable for everyone, Mithen takes us on a journey through history. It's the story of humanity and the way that human language evolved. Fantastic, full of interesting ideas, and a wonderful combination of archaeology, linguistics, and multiple other fields. Loved this!

Thanks to Netgalley and Basic Books for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

I found the information interesting. Some of the explanations are clear; some are not. The book uses mostly plain language but I felt that it sometimes devolved into jargon. The book lacked any author’s journey, which to me is a big factor in liking a book. I did not find the writing that engaging but the information was compelling enough to keep me going through the book. Overall, it was well worth reading. Thank you to Netgalley and Basic Books for the advance reader copy.

This is a terrific book about language—its origins snd evolution, its biology and all its variations
It’s a model for how an academic topic can be made accessible and highly readable for a general audience