SPEECH! How Language Made Us Human

Listening to Mike Fraser narrate this audiobook is like sitting in an Oxbridge classroom and hearing a lecturer recount how vocal mechanisms and cultural evolution turned a bipedal ape into a human being. Fraser's smooth baritone impresses with its authority, warmth, and charm. While listeners gain background on how languages developed--"from babble to Babel," as the author so cleverly puts it--there are many technical areas of language development not included in this account. The emphasis in this audiobook is on culture, not merely language. The lectures digress at times to discuss sex, stimulants, and music, as well as suggested changes to the United Nations. Still, a diverting and visionary listen. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2022]