In the latest book in the series, editor Nicholas Wade and the award-winning Science Times journalists explore the mysterious roots of language. Their coverage ranges from the efforts to chronicle ancient languages to the examination of fossil records to determine whether Neanderthals had language, and around the evolutionary bend to the study of chimpanzees and their ability to "talk" using sign boards to convey fear, hunger, and their deceptive sense of humor. Chapters expound upon: "The History of Language"; "Archaeology and Language," which includes the findings in the Tarim Basin of China that reveal remains of Caucasian mummies dating from 2,000 to 600 b.c., and their written language; "Language in Other Species," in which the subsonic songs of female African elephants are detected traveling up to two miles through the ground to announce herd movement and mating possibilities, and rich rhyming schemes of the seasonal songs of humpback whales are described; "Language and Learning"; "Language and the Brain"; and finally "Language and Society," which addresses contemporary concerns of our own multilingual nation.

With detailed illustrations that appeared in the original articles, and introductions to each chapter by Nicholas Wade, this book is sure to fascinate anyone who has an interest in language and culture.

Nicholas Wade, a science reporter for The New York Times, was the editor of the Science Times from 1990 through 1996. He is also the author of The Ultimate Experiment, The Nobel Duel, Betrayers of the Truth (with William J. Broad), and A World Beyond Healing, and editor of the Science Times books published by the Lyons Press.