This book looks at one of the most fundamental of our species' distinguishing characteristics: the use of language. The author argues that our language abilities are part of our genetic inheritance, not a cultural artefact, bringing together Darwinian natural selection and Chomsky's linguistics. The author debunks many of the standard facts — the dozens of Eskimo words for snow, the belief that we think using language, that English is a logic-defying tongue — and shows that language is a basic human instinct.