MAIN IDEA:

This book explores language as a uniquely human symbolic method of communication that no other animals managed to develop, even in the simplest form imaginable. The author breaks down communications into three hierarchically organized forms, as represented by the graphs below:

The author also provides an interesting model of the evolutionary development process that made us humans:

Here is the author’s description of the structure of this
book:” The first part of the book—Language—focuses on the nature of language
and the reasons that it is virtually confined to the human species. The second
part of the book—Brain—tackles the problem of identifying what is unusual about
human brain structure that corresponds with the unique problems posed by
language. The third part of the book—Co-Evolution—examines the peculiar
extension of natural selection logic that is behind human brain and language
evolution, and tries to identify what sort of communication “problem”
precipitated the evolution of our unprecedented mode of communication.”

MY TAKE ON IT:

I think it is a very good presentation of humanity’s core features as a system of coordination, cooperation, and integration between individuals that provides far superior functionality of existence than could be found in any other part of the animal world. The only small issue I have with all this is the treatment of it as a human paradox:” Biologically, we are just another ape. Mentally, we are a new phylum of organisms. In these two seemingly incommensurate facts lies a conundrum that must be resolved before we adequately explain what it means to be human.” As far as I’m concerned, we are not more unique than many other forms of life, each of which exists because it fits well into the existing environment. It just happened that the integrated system of humanity is based on individual organisms with much higher levels of functionality and self-direction capabilities than, for example, the integrated system of ants. Combined with unlimited communication and coordination abilities provided by the symbolic language, we did become a dominant form of life on this planet and, I believe, will remain so, even if in the process of planet-wide consolidation we’ll go through difficult times and catastrophic events.