(Paperback)

How language evolved has been called 'the hardest problem in science'. Taking cues from topics as diverse as the foraging strategies of ants, the distribution of large prehistoric herbivores, and the construction of ecological niches, the author produces a fresh alternative to the conventional wisdom.

(Paperback)

Tells the story of what language is, how it works, and how it passes from generation to generation, even where historical accidents have made normal transmission almost impossible.