7,000 Universes

7,000 Universes is a revelatory guide to the connections between languages and cognition. Drawing on a vast body of research, it argues that not only do speakers of different languages think differently, but also that structures in our languages actively shape how we construct reality and build knowledge.

As Lera Boroditsky says: 'Humans communicate with one another using 7,000 or so different languages, and each language differs from the next in innumerable ways. Do people who speak different languages think differently? Do languages merely express thoughts, or do they secretly shape the very thoughts we wish to express? Are some thoughts unthinkable without language? The question of whether the languages we speak shape the ways we think has been at the centre of controversy for centuries, and with good reason. At stake are basic questions all of us have about ourselves, human nature, and reality.'