After 7 years, I finished reading this book at last!

Let me go back in time to try to explain why it took me so long... On 2004 I read "On Intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins. When writing a computer vision paper related to perception, I borrowed some terms from that book. I think I was talking about "mental percepts", and one of the reviewers didn't agree at all with Hawkins vision, and he recriminated me for referencing a book that it's not scholar... But he pointed that if I want to reference something like this, the least I could do is read Steven Pinker and reference him... So referring Pinker is OK because it matches his tastes?

Anyway, because I am a very good student, instead of burning the paper and forget about it, I bought a couple of Pinker books back then: "The language instinct" (the book the reviewer recommended), and "How the mind works". Because it was more recent, and because it had a whole chapter dedicated to vision, and because it had a nicer cover, I decided to start reading "How the mind works". It is indeed a great book that inspired me when writing the introduction of my thesis. But then, back to "The language instinct", I tried reading it, but, I am sorry to admit it, it was a bit boring. Plus, I was not that much interested in just studying language at that moment. And then in 2007 arrived "The Blank Slate", even better than "How the mind works". With such interesting readings, why go back to Chomsky's X-bars? And then in 2009 I read "The stuff of thought", where Pinker talks again about language, but linking it to "How the mind works"... So when this year I started reading Pinker latest book "The better angels of our nature" (why violence has declined), I felt a bit ashamed to find "The language instinct" still laying there on the shelf... And now it's done! I can say I completed Pinker's circle

The part about Universal Grammar was a bit thick and hard to follow (I don't want to imagine reading Chomsky...), but the chapters that follow contain several interesting topics, like the history of languages, genetics, mental illness, or English mavens. One thing is for sure, if you are a language "otaku" (or a maven), you should read this book. Even after all these years, I think many linguists haven't learned anything from it...

List of readings

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I just finished reading "Musicophilia" by Oliver Sacks. A very interesting reading that tries to explain all that goes on in our brains when we listen to or play music, through moving cases of real patients. It's a very interesting reading who made me more curious about music. After reading it, I've started asking to some people in my surroundings and I've found out, for instance, that my piano teacher is a synesthete! Oliver Sacks is also the author of "Awakenings", the book that inspired the Oscar-nominated movie with the same name.

From "The Washington Post": "Curious, cultured, caring, in his person Sacks justifies the medical profession and, one is tempted to say, the human race…. Musicophilia allows readers to join Sacks where he is most alive, amidst melodies and with his patients"

Readings

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I added a couple of books to my list of readings. I recommend you check Kahneman's book, "Thinking, fast and slow". It's a very interesting reading with many lessons to learn from it
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I made available a printed edition of my SurrealiTales through lulu.com. It contains the same stories I previously published in this site, with some minor spell corrections, plus a 3-page epilogue. If you prefer paper, now it's your chance I hope you enjoy it reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it

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I uploaded some old games I programmed around 15 years ago in AMOS for the Amiga 500

Perhaps not very impressive, but you can play them again in Android phones thanks to Amiga emulators

I also uploaded some videos showing how these 2 games, May&Yam and May&Yam2, run on Android.

Check: My works

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I started the new year with holidays

I am still in Barcelona, but I will go back to Tokyo this weekend.

Best wishes for 2012, year of the dragon!

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