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Title: Fuzzy Thinking
Review: I was hoping this book would be at the level of Louis Menand's "The Metaphysical Club." It's not. The core ideas grab the reader, but the writing is fuzzy and sometimes plain wrong. For example, on page 180-81 what begins as a fascinating insight into the "primitive" color words, black / white / red, quickly bogs down in error. Shlain claims that "only in the most mature languages... does a separate word for the color blue make an appearance..." Possibly technically correct, but conceptually wrong. "Indigo" has been around since at least Herodotus (450 BC.) I suspect Dr. Shlain is a delightful generalist who has written a book far beyond his knowledge.
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