Matthew Royal reviewed The kingdom of speech by Tom Wolfe
Review of 'The kingdom of speech' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
This book is sadly a huge waste of time, as Wolfe uses it to attempt to smear academics he doesn't like. It offers no new information, and grows increasingly hostile in its personal attacks.
A very disappointing tribal inoculation against Chomsky's idea of generative grammar. Its ad hominem attacks against Chomsky and, oddly, Charles Darwin are clarified in the final chapter of the book, when it's revealed Wolfe's real agenda is to push his religion, against which he feels academics unfairly attack.
His thesis that language is a cultural artifact rather than an innate human ability is supported by nothing more than increasingly loud assertions. It's disappointing that he doesn't support the idea with anything, and even more disappointing that he thinks he can poopoo other theories with nothing more than bile and vinegar, and have his reader blindly accept his position. His strongest arguments against Chomsky come from Chomsky …
This book is sadly a huge waste of time, as Wolfe uses it to attempt to smear academics he doesn't like. It offers no new information, and grows increasingly hostile in its personal attacks.
A very disappointing tribal inoculation against Chomsky's idea of generative grammar. Its ad hominem attacks against Chomsky and, oddly, Charles Darwin are clarified in the final chapter of the book, when it's revealed Wolfe's real agenda is to push his religion, against which he feels academics unfairly attack.
His thesis that language is a cultural artifact rather than an innate human ability is supported by nothing more than increasingly loud assertions. It's disappointing that he doesn't support the idea with anything, and even more disappointing that he thinks he can poopoo other theories with nothing more than bile and vinegar, and have his reader blindly accept his position. His strongest arguments against Chomsky come from Chomsky himself, which only shows Chomsky is aware of his theories' weak points, and wants to publicize then in order to spur discussion.