James W. Pennebaker

Pennebaker explores the world of "function words" - aka pronouns, prepositions, and articles - and explains how we can learn about people based on their use of these words, even after setting aside considerations for content. I really did find it fascinating, especially the first half of the book. It does get a little repetitive after that. One of the main things I found interesting is how people's excessive use of "I" words (I, me, my) can indicate that they are from a low social class, are depressed, or are just being honest. If you're interested in linguistics as a hobby, this book will be a fun read. Others may just get bored.… (meer)

adult nonfiction; social psychology. This was rather a dense read and I skipped through a lot of it, but there are a lot of interesting observations (scientifically backed, of course, though the documentation was buried all the way back in the end notes so I can't really be too sure). I don't think I'll remember very much of it to be at all useful, but the part about politicians' statements of denial in cases where they were later found guilty stands out in my mind, in respect to the recent allegations against Herman Cain and his statements that followed.… (meer)

Pennebaker either wrote an extremely boring book about a fascinating subject, or an extremely fascinating book about a boring subject. Clearly he's excited about this topic, but I'm just not sure it was worth writing an entire book about it. For me, it comes close to being interesting. Word usage, word choices, and what that says about us is interesting. Data analysis of the same, also interesting. Does this require an entire volume dedicated to the topic? Probably not. If I would have read a long web article on this, I probably would have felt justified in the 30 minutes or so I spent on it. As it was, it just dragged on a little too long. That said, it was well written and his passion and enthusiasm comes through and helps us (the readers) get to the finish line at the end.… (meer)

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.… (meer)