--- product_id: 6379439 title: "Through the Language Glass" price: "€ 57.56" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.at/products/6379439-through-the-language-glass store_origin: AT region: Austria --- # Through the Language Glass **Price:** € 57.56 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Through the Language Glass - **How much does it cost?** € 57.56 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.at](https://www.desertcart.at/products/6379439-through-the-language-glass) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description The New York Times Editor's Choice The Economist Best Book of 2010 A Financial Times Best Book of 2010 A Library Journal Best Book of 2010 “An informative, pleasurable read… A gifted writer, Deutscher picks his way nimbly past overblown arguments to a sensible compromise.”― The Boston Globe From Homer to Darwin, from Yale to the desertcart, and through a strange and dazzling history of the color blue, the leading linguist argues that our mother tongues do indeed shape our experiences of the world. The debate is ages old: Where does language come from? Is it an artifact of our culture or written in our very DNA? In recent years, the leading linguists have seemingly settled the issue: all languages are fundamentally the same and the particular language we speak does not shape our thinking in any significant way. Guy Deutscher says they're wrong. Audacious, delightful, and provocative, Through the Language Glass is destined to become a classic of intellectual discovery. Review: Highest recommendation for style, content and humor, with a few minor gripes - This seems to be worth 4.99 stars for content and I would round up to 6.0 (if possible) for Deutscher's style and humor, even if the content were not as good. This is an excellent introduction to the current state of investigation of the relationship between thought and language. While there are no in-line references, the Notes section in the back of the book provides references to the 19 page Bibliography ( 300 entries). I do have a few minor gripes that I want to get off my chest. 1) I feel that Deutscher presents Whorf's most extreme position -almost a caricature. Whorf was an M.I.T. graduate in Chemical Engineering whose entire career was as a safety engineer for The Hartford Fire Insurance Company. Linguistics was his avocation. Whorf died at the age of 44 and many of his papers were published by his friends and colleagues after his death. We cannot know what changes he might have made prior to publication had he lived. His defenders point out that his written statements include many more moderate statements of position; indeed it is difficult to discern the exact limits of his position. In fairness to Deutscher, personifying the extreme position seems to be an effective pedagogical technique, and Whorf did take extreme positions at times. I consider myself a moderate Whorfian; I find the most succinct expression of my position is an adaptation of the astrologer's formulation concerning the stars: "Languages impel, they do not compel." Perhaps one attribute of genius is the ability to overcome the impulses and promptings of language. This leads to an expansion of the language that permits non-geniuses to share in the genius' insight. And, this provides the mechanism by which we all augment our cognitive toolboxes and "stand on the shoulders of giants". 2) Deutscher gives an excellent explanation of "factive vs. non-factive verbs" (P-150). He uses this to support his claim that people can learn new concepts that were not previously present in their individual languages and to argue that therefore language does not constrain thought. HOWEVER, before Deutscher explained the concept I would not have realized verbs could be categorized in that manner. Now I do. Previously, I would never have thought of that characteristic when analyzing a verb; in the future I shall. Now that Deutscher has expanded my language by adding the concept of factive, my language is different and I think differently. Deutscher's argument has actually confirmed Whorf! -moderately! 3) Although Deutscher writes excellent English, it is not his native language and in a couple of cases he seems to lack a native speaker's feel for the Whorfian underpinnings and nuances of English. Deutscher asks "Or think about it another way, when you ask someone ...something like `are you coming tomorrow?' do you feel your grasp of futurity is slipping?" (PP. 145 -6) When I compare "Are you coming tomorrow?" with "Will you come tomorrow?" I feel, in the first case the query asks: "Is it your current intention to come tomorrow?" and in the second "Do you believe your plans and external circumstances will result in your coming tomorrow?" The first one is rooted in the present, the second in the future. I will accept that this has elements of connotation vs. denotation, but the language still impels me to address either the present state of affairs or the future. I will also grant that the answer to the first might be "I intend to come, but it looks like the creek's going to rise and I may not be able to get across the ford with my old car.", but that is a different matter -providing as much information as is necessary for the purposes of the exchange. (H.P. Grice's Maxim of Quantity). Language does not compel me to ignore the future, it merely nudges me. Perhaps being a native English-speaker leads me to see nuances second-language speakers do not. (And, by the way, I used futurity will twice, when I was really speaking about the present, to indicate a concession -"I will accept.") I just heard a Yale Economist speculating that the reason the Germans save for the future is that they habitually use the present tense for future events: Es regnet am Morgen (literally "It rains tomorrow" for English "It's going to rain tomorrow." Or "It will raan tomorrow." As Hebrew has gender (Masc. Fem. Neu.) for all nouns, Deutscher finds the use of he or she to be "poetic" and even "arch" for English nouns that are normally neuter. He has not met the farmer, miner or assembly line worker whose favorite rifle or tool is a she, or tried calling someone's household pet or favorite horse "it". I have heard computer programmers describe the operation of a piece of software as "he wants to ...". I have a 24-year old sports car that has acquired personhood over the years, as have some of the quirkier computers I've worked on. I also must wonder whether a native speaker of a language with two genders (e.g. Spanish) would find this natural or "arch"? -or a native speaker of two languages with contradictory genders? However, when everything is considered this book has my highest recommendation for style, content and humor -every star desertcart will allow! Review: more ground to explore - This was our book group selection for February 7, 2016 and was based on my recommendation. I started reading the book months earlier and periodically kept up with it but was glad to have the chance to discuss it with my friends since they always bring aspects to their interpretations that I would have missed otherwise. In general, and this was a shared feeling, Guy does not carry through the argument the tile seems to lead one to expect. I appreciated the history that led to the linguistic relativity theory especially the section on Gladstone and the colors – or lack of colors in the Homeric texts. (It was also interesting that a national leader would also have an interest in scholarly work since it is hard imagining anyone having that sort of time and interest in political leadership today.) The interesting in the Sapir Whorf hypothesis and why it went over board and became a laughing stock was interesting, but then Guy attempts to bring some of the theory back with a catch. The primitive languages which remain we ought to learn as much from as we can while they are still around since they seem to be more in touch with fundamental reality – as one friend pointed out in her own experience the native groups have a real need for communicating close to nature experiences for survival reasons. Urbanites seem to just talk talk talk all the time about very abstract things. (Interesting here is a reference to the Flynn effect.) I also enjoyed the “itiscization” of English and the sort of critique of Mark Twain’s piece on the Awful German Language by pointing out English used to be the same way but perhaps efficiency did a pruning job on it. But the end argument is not that language is so much a glass through which we see the world as that social characterizations or frames force us to view things the way it does even if that is not necessarily going to enable us to ignore something like colors. But if you grow up egocentric you see things that way, if your culture is based more on relations situated in the Australian Outback then the cardinal directions become second nature to you even with regard to how you are situated in a room or a cup on the table is not next to you as much as it is south of you. Or is that west? An interesting book, an interesting read and discussion book, though clearly the topic has much more ground to explore. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #78,812 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #52 in Linguistics Reference #164 in Evolution (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,050 Reviews | ## Images ![Through the Language Glass - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61yxeGt8PgL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highest recommendation for style, content and humor, with a few minor gripes *by M***L on July 25, 2013* This seems to be worth 4.99 stars for content and I would round up to 6.0 (if possible) for Deutscher's style and humor, even if the content were not as good. This is an excellent introduction to the current state of investigation of the relationship between thought and language. While there are no in-line references, the Notes section in the back of the book provides references to the 19 page Bibliography ( 300 entries). I do have a few minor gripes that I want to get off my chest. 1) I feel that Deutscher presents Whorf's most extreme position -almost a caricature. Whorf was an M.I.T. graduate in Chemical Engineering whose entire career was as a safety engineer for The Hartford Fire Insurance Company. Linguistics was his avocation. Whorf died at the age of 44 and many of his papers were published by his friends and colleagues after his death. We cannot know what changes he might have made prior to publication had he lived. His defenders point out that his written statements include many more moderate statements of position; indeed it is difficult to discern the exact limits of his position. In fairness to Deutscher, personifying the extreme position seems to be an effective pedagogical technique, and Whorf did take extreme positions at times. I consider myself a moderate Whorfian; I find the most succinct expression of my position is an adaptation of the astrologer's formulation concerning the stars: "Languages impel, they do not compel." Perhaps one attribute of genius is the ability to overcome the impulses and promptings of language. This leads to an expansion of the language that permits non-geniuses to share in the genius' insight. And, this provides the mechanism by which we all augment our cognitive toolboxes and "stand on the shoulders of giants". 2) Deutscher gives an excellent explanation of "factive vs. non-factive verbs" (P-150). He uses this to support his claim that people can learn new concepts that were not previously present in their individual languages and to argue that therefore language does not constrain thought. HOWEVER, before Deutscher explained the concept I would not have realized verbs could be categorized in that manner. Now I do. Previously, I would never have thought of that characteristic when analyzing a verb; in the future I shall. Now that Deutscher has expanded my language by adding the concept of factive, my language is different and I think differently. Deutscher's argument has actually confirmed Whorf! -moderately! 3) Although Deutscher writes excellent English, it is not his native language and in a couple of cases he seems to lack a native speaker's feel for the Whorfian underpinnings and nuances of English. Deutscher asks "Or think about it another way, when you ask someone ...something like `are you coming tomorrow?' do you feel your grasp of futurity is slipping?" (PP. 145 -6) When I compare "Are you coming tomorrow?" with "Will you come tomorrow?" I feel, in the first case the query asks: "Is it your current intention to come tomorrow?" and in the second "Do you believe your plans and external circumstances will result in your coming tomorrow?" The first one is rooted in the present, the second in the future. I will accept that this has elements of connotation vs. denotation, but the language still impels me to address either the present state of affairs or the future. I will also grant that the answer to the first might be "I intend to come, but it looks like the creek's going to rise and I may not be able to get across the ford with my old car.", but that is a different matter -providing as much information as is necessary for the purposes of the exchange. (H.P. Grice's Maxim of Quantity). Language does not compel me to ignore the future, it merely nudges me. Perhaps being a native English-speaker leads me to see nuances second-language speakers do not. (And, by the way, I used futurity will twice, when I was really speaking about the present, to indicate a concession -"I will accept.") I just heard a Yale Economist speculating that the reason the Germans save for the future is that they habitually use the present tense for future events: Es regnet am Morgen (literally "It rains tomorrow" for English "It's going to rain tomorrow." Or "It will raan tomorrow." As Hebrew has gender (Masc. Fem. Neu.) for all nouns, Deutscher finds the use of he or she to be "poetic" and even "arch" for English nouns that are normally neuter. He has not met the farmer, miner or assembly line worker whose favorite rifle or tool is a she, or tried calling someone's household pet or favorite horse "it". I have heard computer programmers describe the operation of a piece of software as "he wants to ...". I have a 24-year old sports car that has acquired personhood over the years, as have some of the quirkier computers I've worked on. I also must wonder whether a native speaker of a language with two genders (e.g. Spanish) would find this natural or "arch"? -or a native speaker of two languages with contradictory genders? However, when everything is considered this book has my highest recommendation for style, content and humor -every star amazon will allow! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ more ground to explore *by W***N on February 9, 2016* This was our book group selection for February 7, 2016 and was based on my recommendation. I started reading the book months earlier and periodically kept up with it but was glad to have the chance to discuss it with my friends since they always bring aspects to their interpretations that I would have missed otherwise. In general, and this was a shared feeling, Guy does not carry through the argument the tile seems to lead one to expect. I appreciated the history that led to the linguistic relativity theory especially the section on Gladstone and the colors – or lack of colors in the Homeric texts. (It was also interesting that a national leader would also have an interest in scholarly work since it is hard imagining anyone having that sort of time and interest in political leadership today.) The interesting in the Sapir Whorf hypothesis and why it went over board and became a laughing stock was interesting, but then Guy attempts to bring some of the theory back with a catch. The primitive languages which remain we ought to learn as much from as we can while they are still around since they seem to be more in touch with fundamental reality – as one friend pointed out in her own experience the native groups have a real need for communicating close to nature experiences for survival reasons. Urbanites seem to just talk talk talk all the time about very abstract things. (Interesting here is a reference to the Flynn effect.) I also enjoyed the “itiscization” of English and the sort of critique of Mark Twain’s piece on the Awful German Language by pointing out English used to be the same way but perhaps efficiency did a pruning job on it. But the end argument is not that language is so much a glass through which we see the world as that social characterizations or frames force us to view things the way it does even if that is not necessarily going to enable us to ignore something like colors. But if you grow up egocentric you see things that way, if your culture is based more on relations situated in the Australian Outback then the cardinal directions become second nature to you even with regard to how you are situated in a room or a cup on the table is not next to you as much as it is south of you. Or is that west? An interesting book, an interesting read and discussion book, though clearly the topic has much more ground to explore. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Entertaining and Erudite *by L***R on January 30, 2026* What a find! I don't know where I got the recommendation, but I was glad that I followed it. Even though the author covered only a few topics, he dud so in readable, often humorous, way. It was a delightful read. Highly recommended. ## Frequently Bought Together - Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages - The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention - The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.at/products/6379439-through-the-language-glass](https://www.desertcart.at/products/6379439-through-the-language-glass) --- *Product available on Desertcart Austria* *Store origin: AT* *Last updated: 2026-06-06*