Author Archives: Ed Battistella

About Ed Battistella

Edwin Battistella’s latest book Dangerous Crooked Scoundrels was released by Oxford University Press in March of 2020.

Review of How Deeply Human is Language: Chomsky, The Brain, and the AI Fantasy  by Yosef Grodzinsky

Posted on June 11, 2026 by Ed Battistella

Review of How Deeply Human is Language: Chomsky, The Brain, and the AI Fantasy  by Yosef Grodzinsky In this short and lucid work, Grodzinsky (Director of the Neurolinguistics Lab at the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for the Brain Sciences) … Continue reading →

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Review The Politics of Language by David Beaver and Jason Stanley

Posted on May 14, 2026 by Ed Battistella

The Politics of Language by David Beaver and Jason Stanley Published in 2025, The Politics of Language, by David Beaver and Jason Stanley convincingly makes the case that most speech has ideological meaning and that the connotations of words evoke … Continue reading →

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What I’m reading March and April 2026

Posted on May 9, 2026 by Ed Battistella

Muscle Man by Jordan Castro A colleague who I run into the gym recommended this. It’s the quirky story of Harold, an unhappy literature professor who finds solace from a mundane career in weight lifting. The key scenes are his … Continue reading →

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Review of Valerie Fridland, Why We Talk Funny

Posted on April 23, 2026 by Ed Battistella

Review of Valerie Fridland, Why We Talk Funny Contrary to popular belief, we’ve all got an accent. In Why We Talk Funny, linguist Valerie Fridland digs deep into the notion of accent, offering an engaging tale of how they arise, … Continue reading →

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