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Rating: 
Summary: Original and provocative
Review: A highly original and intriguing thesis on the evolution of brain and language. Lieberman traces the origins of language syntax computations to brain mechanisms evolved originally to cooridinate complex patterns of action. Although I am not expert in linguistics, I take a basic biopsychology pespective onthe neuroscience of pattern generation, and see Lieberman's book as a novel voice that bridges disciplines in a valuable way. This book reinvigorates notions of 'action syntax' and provides a unique interdisciplinary perspective.
Rating:
Summary: Original and provocative
Review: A highly original and intriguing thesis on the evolution of brain and language. Lieberman traces the origins of language syntax computations to brain mechanisms evolved originally to cooridinate complex patterns of action. Although I am not expert in linguistics, I take a basic biopsychology pespective onthe neuroscience of pattern generation, and see Lieberman's book as a novel voice that bridges disciplines in a valuable way. This book reinvigorates notions of 'action syntax' and provides a unique interdisciplinary perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: Chomsky would be turning in his grave(if he were dead)
Review: Lieberman's "Human Language and Our Reptilian Brain" is a surprisingly readable and fascinating exploration of language and the brain by one of the most ardent anti-Chomskyian neurolinguists writing today(Lieberman, a professor at Brown Univeristy, embodies a healthy opposition to the Chomsky/Pinker madness at MIT). The thesis of the book is that there is no one neural center or "seat" of the human capacity for language. Rather, what we call "language" is in fact a functional system distributed throughout the brain, and is entangled with subcortical circuitry that is not normally associated with language function. Lieberman discredits the blatant intuitionism of Chomskyian linguistics by citing some of the most recent studies in neurolinguistics.The book assumes some knowledge of neural anatomy, and serious scholars are encouraged to make use of the bibliography. But I think that Lieberman's work exemplifies the neuroscientific approach to understanding human behavior, and I recommend this book for anyone with an intellectual stake in the nature of language and the brain.
Rating: 
Summary: Ignores Important Facts in Favor of an Agenda
Review: There is no doubt Prof. Lieberman has made many meaningful contributions to anthropological linguistics and language evolution. However, as a leading "anti-Chomskyan," Lieberman has unfortunately allowed his zeal for non-Chomskyan thought to shape his interpretation of the facts: in the present work, he makes the facts fit the agenda, rather than the reverse. It is true that more and more data point to the important role of subcortical structures in higher cognitive function (especially the basal ganglia & cerebellum). Lieberman, though, overinterprets and misinterprets data -- linguistic, neurological, evolutionary, and neurobiological -- in his quest to advance his own theoretical perspective. The result is a poorly reasoned approach and ill founded conclusions that may well hobble new-comers seeking to learn about the important role of non-cortical systems in human cognition. Interested readers would do better to consult the _Handbook of Neurolinguistics (ed. B. Stemmer & H. A. Whitaker), _Clinical Neuropsychology_ (ed. K. Heilman & E. Valenstein), _The Neurocognition of Language_ (ed. C. M. Brown & P. Hagoort), _The Handbook of Adult Language Disorders (ed. A. Hillis), and anything written by Jeremy Schmamann.
Rating:
Summary: Ignores Important Facts in Favor of an Agenda
Review: There is no doubt Prof. Lieberman has made many meaningful contributions to anthropological linguistics and language evolution. However, as a leading "anti-Chomskyan," Lieberman has unfortunately allowed his zeal for non-Chomskyan thought to shape his interpretation of the facts: in the present work, he makes the facts fit the agenda, rather than the reverse. It is true that more and more data point to the important role of subcortical structures in higher cognitive function (especially the basal ganglia & cerebellum). Lieberman, though, overinterprets and misinterprets data -- linguistic, neurological, evolutionary, and neurobiological -- in his quest to advance his own theoretical perspective. The result is a poorly reasoned approach and ill founded conclusions that may well hobble new-comers seeking to learn about the important role of non-cortical systems in human cognition. Interested readers would do better to consult the _Handbook of Neurolinguistics (ed. B. Stemmer & H. A. Whitaker), _Clinical Neuropsychology_ (ed. K. Heilman & E. Valenstein), _The Neurocognition of Language_ (ed. C. M. Brown & P. Hagoort), _The Handbook of Adult Language Disorders (ed. A. Hillis), and anything written by Jeremy Schmamann.
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