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The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us Audiobook
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(3.00) - 627 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
We spend our lives communicating. In the last fifty years, we've zoomed through radically different forms of communication, from typewriters to tablet computers, text messages to tweets. We generate more and more words with each passing day. Hiding in that deluge of language are amazing insights into who we are, how we think, and what we feel.
In The Secret Life of Pronouns, social psychologist and language expert James W. Pennebaker uses his groundbreaking research in computational linguistics—in essence, counting the frequency of words we use—to show that our language carries secrets about our feelings, our self-concept, and our social intelligence. Our most forgettable words, such as pronouns and prepositions, can be the most revealing: their patterns are as distinctive as fingerprints.
Using innovative analytic techniques, Pennebaker X-rays everything from Craigslist advertisements to the Federalist Papers—or your own writing, in quizzes you can take yourself—to yield unexpected insights. Who would have predicted that the high school student who uses too many verbs in her college admissions essay is likely to make lower grades in college? Or that a world leader's use of pronouns could reliably presage whether he led his country into war? You'll learn why it's bad when politicians use "we" instead of "I," what Lady Gaga and William Butler Yeats have in common, and how Ebenezer Scrooge's syntax hints at his self-deception and repressed emotion. Barack Obama, Sylvia Plath, and King Lear are among the figures who make cameo appearances in this sprightly, surprising tour of what our words are saying—whether we mean them to or not.
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"Wonderful book that really makes you think about the smallest of words. Pennebaker, a behavioral psychologist, has spent years studing how the language we use reflects our emotional states. His findings, that what he calls function or stealth words, words like; the, and, but, is, was, over, before,I, and we are the one that revile much about our emotional states and how we see ourselves and each other. Pennebaker presents all this in a lively writing style that stays free of jargon. For those of you who loved "The Tipping Point" or "Freakonomics" this is your next book."
— Colleen (5 out of 5 stars)
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“Penetrating…lively and accessible.”
— New York Times Book Review -
A comprehensive investigation of how our words . . . reveal important insights about our behavior, emotions and personalities.
— Kirkus -
“Pennebaker’s take on the unexpected importance of throw-away words is the kind of fun pop linguistics [fans] devour.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Narrator Robert Fass guides the listener through the absorbing material with a judicious use of tonal variation, which keeps his delivery fresh.”
— AudioFile -
“A comprehensive investigation of how our words…reveal important insights about our behavior, emotions, and personalities.”
— Kirkus Reviews
The Secret Life of Pronouns Listener Reviews
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" It blew my mind when I learned about Dr. Pennebaker's insights on how our use of words reflect our psychological states. I don't like to think that someone you have never met can figure you out just by analyzing one of your writing samples. On the other hand, I love the idea of being able to figure out someone else just by analyzing a sample of his or her writing. Nevertheless, I became bored by his repetition of some of the main concepts and had to take breaks while reading. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the relationship between language and psychology. "
— Karla, 2/14/2014 -
" Not just for grammar geeks - we reveal far more than we realize by our word choices - even the smallest one such as articles (a, an, the) and I vs. we. Great political analysis as well as psychological interpretations from anything from emails to Craig's List postings. "
— Krista, 2/5/2014 -
" interesting, thoughtful, but woefully dry. A few hundred pages of statistics will do that to you. "
— Brendan, 2/3/2014 -
" Wait until you see his online introduction to psychology...! "
— Tim, 1/31/2014 -
" stimulating read and lots to ponder over "
— Salome, 1/24/2014 -
" I love linguistics. This book wasn't completely about that but rather the psychology of the words we use. This book is about what our words choices say about us, says about our age, gender, class, education or power level. Interesting stuff but most of it was said in the first two chapters. "
— Allison, 1/15/2014 -
" An interesting look at how and what words we use shape who we are and are shaped by who we are "
— Jianna, 1/12/2014 -
" didn't finish this book because i ran out of time. the idea that we so reveal personality traits through our humble lingual workhorses, like articles and pronouns, is quite interesting. perhaps a revisit further down the road.... "
— jko, 1/12/2014 -
" I couldn't get into this book. Maybe I just wasn't it the right mood, or maybe the statistical analysis was over my head. "
— Emily, 1/5/2014 -
" I wanted to like this book, but it disappointed. It runs through the research, but at the end of the day it's all pretty intuitive. the book doesn't share anything that you wouldn't expect. "
— Rob, 12/27/2013 -
" I am a word nerd so I was intrigued by this book. It's not so much linguistics (which is what I had in mind), but it was still a pretty decent read. "
— Monique, 12/16/2013 -
" Well it's certainly a new perspective. I'd say he's taken it too far with linguistics though. There's surely a meaning behind your words that go deep down to your psyche but I the writer dismissed other factors. "
— Nada, 12/1/2013 -
" Have you ever wondered what our words say about us? Or what politicians' words say about them? This is a very interesting book which explains the statistical analysis of our word usage. "
— Guna, 11/30/2013 -
" A quirky idea, but not a particularly compelling read as far as pop psych books go. "
— Aditi, 10/25/2013 -
" It was my fault, not its, that this statistics-heavy book failed repeatedly to rise to the top of my summer reading stack. I'll try again when it's cold outside. (I still love the witty cover!) "
— Rebecca, 10/11/2013 -
" Maybe I'll go back to this but I just can't get through it. "
— Sara, 9/6/2013 -
" I debated between 2 and 3 stars. It wasn't bad, but it didn't need to be 300 pages. Got a little boring at times. The concepts are fun and interesting. "
— Rachel, 3/25/2013 -
" A great read about what the frequent use of pronouns, first or third, say about us. "
— Dan, 8/19/2012
About James W. Pennebaker
James W. Pennebaker is a social psychologist whose research focuses on the relationship between natural language use, health, and social behavior. Throughout his career, he has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies for work in his field. His articles have been published in academic journals, and his books include Opening Up, Writing to Heal, and The Psychology of Physical Symptoms. He is currently the centennial liberal arts professor and chair of the department of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers.
About Robert Fass
Robert Fass is a veteran actor and twice winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. He has earned multiple Earphones Awards and been named in AudioFile magazine’s list of the year’s best narrations for six years.