Caleb Everett

A sweeping exploration of the relationship between the language we speak and our perception of such fundamentals of experience as time, space, colour, and smells. We tend to assume that all languages categorise ideas and objects similarly, reflecting our common human experience. But this isn't the case. When we look closely, we find that many basic concepts are not universal,...

"A fascinating book."- James Ryerson, New York Times Book Review A Smithsonian Best Science Book of the YearWinner of the PROSE Award for Best Book in Language & Linguistics Carved into our past and woven into our present, numbers shape our perceptions of the world far more than we think. In this sweeping account of how the invention of numbers...

An award-winning look at the relationship between the language we speak and our perception of such fundamentals of experience as time, space, colour, and smells. We tend to assume that all languages categorise ideas and objects similarly, reflecting our common human experience. But in fact, many basic concepts are not universal. Speakers of different languages literally see and think about...