Tom Wolfe

The maestro storyteller and reporter provocatively argues that what we think we know about speech and human evolution is wrong. "A whooping, joy-filled and hyperbolic raid on, of all things, the theory of evolution." (Dwight Garner, New York Times) Tom Wolfe, whose legend began in journalism, takes us on an eye-opening journey that is sure to arouse widespread debate. THE KINGDOM OF SPEECH is a captivating, paradigm-shifting argument that speech--not evolution--is responsible for humanity's complex societies and achievements. From Alfred Russel Wallace, the Englishman who beat Darwin to the theory of natural selection but later renounced it, and through the controversial work of modern-day anthropologist Daniel Everett, who defies the current wisdom that language is hard-wired in humans, Wolfe examines the solemn, long-faced, laugh-out-loud zig-zags of Darwinism, old and Neo, and finds it irrelevant here in the Kingdom of Speech.

The Kingdom of Speech

Patrick Book

The subject matter is interesting, but I probably shouldn’t have expected anything in the way of a definitive conclusion.

Matthew Royal

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.

Wynn Netherland

More of an extended Medium rant than book, Wolfe paints Darwin and Chomsky as arrogant, ego-driven, and vindictive toward their contemporaries while providing less evidence for those accusations than he says they provided for their theories. Wolfe's over-the-top dramatic retelling of events resembles an episode of the 1960s Batman TV series. His takedowns of Darwin and Chomsky aren't as dramatic as he seems to think, and his own conclusion lacks evidence.

By the end, it felt like waiting for the check after dinner with an obnoxious business associate who has had one too many.

The Kingdom of Speech

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