Rhyme and Reason: An Introduction to Minimalist Syntax

Rating:
Summary: Fairly useful; style is grating
Review: While Uriagereka's introduction to Minimalism is one of the more accesible books on the subject, the reading experience is not always pleasant. Uriagereka suffers at times from the worst sort of pseudo-scientific pomposity, and the dialogues could be taken as a linguist's self-parody if they were not so obviously written in earnest. Unless you are given to writing extensively in the margins of books, you may also find it annoying that most of the pages in this >600 page book have text on only half the page. Those complaints aside, the book contains some good discussions about syntax and the Minimalist Program. Still, if you are looking for a true introduction, I would go with Webelhuth's Government and Binding and the Minimalist Program, which gives a balanced introduction to both views of syntax. The more advanced linguist will probably find the pedantic tone of Rhyme and Reason book especially grating. There are better books out on the subject.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable dialogue-style intro. to Chomskyan linguistics
Review: Written entirely in a dialogue-style (like Plato's Socratic dialogues), the authors provide an engaging and entertaining introduction to the 'minimalist agenda' laid out by Noam Chomsky. This book can be edifying for linguists and non-linguists alike; where the latter may get confused, diagrams and explanations are provided along the pages' margins.

The dialogue takes place between the Linguist (L) and the Other (O), the linguist being the Chomskyan 'expert' and the Other being the interested non-linguist, who is obviously highly intelligent and speaks several languages, but doesn't know much about linguistics or how language works. Thus, as L tries to explain language, O asks questions, gets upset, cracks jokes, etc.

This makes for enjoyable reading, and a good introduction to a very complicated subject, even if (like me) you don't agree with the Chomskyans. However, the book is very long and at times taxing. If you are looking for a lighter (but perhaps less satisfying) read, turn to Steven Pinker's the 'Language Instinct.' But better yet, to even out the picture, include a non-Chomskyan account of language in your syllabus.