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Rating: 
Summary: 'groovy'
Review: After reading I recall these lines penned by the scholarly Penfield Geometris S.J.Plainly, a man of skill,
and vast education
who says in ten pages
what a plain fellow would in one
writing eloquently and with great complexity
of humanities speech inferiority
to natural chimpanzee. When a member of some illuminati mis - titles a book in order to press an agenda I feel cheated. Maybe I am just old fashioned but arguments in favor of 'natural language', making ones examples from any language not English [or European].... pretty useless stuff unless one lives in an ivory tower at public expense. Almost any book which mentions the methods used in verbal encryption [in cryptology] is an improvement over this volume.
Rating: 
Summary: Another excellent book in Oxford's VSI series
Review: Having read and enjoyed *Linguistics: A Very Short Introduction* (and having come upon the previous review by 'newton fisher' - who apparently needs treatment for mental illness), I felt compelled to write this 5 star review. A brief word about Oxford University Press' *Very Short Introduction* series: Oxford UP has put out an excellent series of books that give a succint introduction of various academic subjects for motivated laymen (and arguably specialists as well). I've read several of the books in the series, and I am a huge fan of the VSI series. Any autodidact (self-learner) out there should be on the look out for books in this series (presuming you're not a lunatic like the previous reviewer). Other books I recommend in this series are: *Logic* (by Graham Priest), *Intelligence* (as in IQ), *Cryptography,* *Choice Theory,* *Mathematics* (by Timothy Gowers, a Field Medal winner), and *Psychology* (a book that 'newton fisher' needs to read). As for *Linguistics,* this is an excellent overview/introduction to MAINSTREAM linguistics. Prof. Matthews attempts to cover the subject hisorically (both in terms of the subject itself and the history of human languages), geographically, humanistically (meaning the subject's 'artistic' side), and scientifically (meaning the subject's scientific/rigorous aspects, which is what the book mainly emphasizes on). This book basically covers all of the major topics that a serious linguist would be familiar with, but aimed at the intelligent, non-crazy layman. Language families are covered in both a historical and scientific way. Semantics & grammar are covered. Phonetics and 'phonology' - the different sounds of different languages (an important topic that many familiar with European languages ignore) - are covered. Various theories are covered as well, including Chomsky's 'Universal Grammar.' Some people (possibly including the crazy moron that wrote the previous review) bug out when they hear the name "Chomsky." Number 1, I don't know how ANY contemporary book on linguistics could neglect to mention Chomsky. Number 2, I don't personally like Chomsky or his politics, but that doesn't mean that his scientific ideas are wrong (many mathematically inclined people see parallels between his ideas and that of Godel). Finally, Prof. Matthews doesn't obsess over Chomsky or "UG" (at least any more than any responsible book on linguistics would); *Lingustics: A VSI* doesn't just talk about grammar - as I mentioned above - it covers other topics in linguistics as well (linguistics is NOT just made up of grammar rules or theories). Bottom-line is that this book is a great introduction/overview of linguistics. It would be an excellent and painless way for non-linguists who are interested to get into the subject. I'm interested in mathemaics, science, and languages and am mathematically inclined, and I found P.H. Matthews' book to be an idea way for me to get into linguistics. I would give this book more than 5 stars if possible (oh, I wish irresponsible reviews like newton fisher's weren't so common).
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