The Years of Talking Dangerously by Geoffrey Nunberg

I finally decided to find something more productive to do on the web than play sudoku and read reddit— namely, to get off the web and read books for a change. As it happens for my birthday my wife gave me a copy of Geoffrey Nunberg's book (he's the linguist who comments on Fresh Air) so the choice of where to start was easy. It turns out to be a selection of his on-air commentaries over the past eight or so years, slightly edited (or unedited, as some were a little too explicit for NPR). I was dubious at first, but I decided to try it. Being a typical educated older liberal San Francisco Bay Area resident, I listen to NPR all the time, so I was familiar with his commentaries. I'd always found them just OK; somehow I'd never really taken to them.

As it turns out, though, I find myself enjoying the book quite a bit. Partly, I'm embarrassed to say, I suspect a significant factor in my former lukewarm reception was that I'm just not that fond of his voice and reading style. It comes across as a bit mannered to me, and overemphasized the wordplay— instead of being witty it seemed, well, a bit too cute and attention-grabbing. But this all goes down much better when I read the commentaries instead of listen to them. I find I can appreciate the ideas and observations better at reading speed, where I can pause to think and reflect on what he's saying. As a result I've found that much of my frustration with the way many members of the Bush administration (well, all members the Bush administration) manipulated language for political purposes, which I had had difficulty articulating, he was able to articulate quite clearly and forcefully. I'd understood this, vaguely, nodding along listening to NPR years ago, but it became startlingly obvious to me when reading the essays in print. He put his finger on exactly the things that had troubled me! Imagine that!

Now, as a book, or even a collection of essays, it's pretty light reading. Owing to their origin as short radio pieces, none of the commentaries is particularly deep or involved. (Perhaps that's what I need to wean myself off the 'net and back into print.) But they do provide amusement and plenty of brief insights into how the English language is used in America today. I've been enjoying it.

At Powell's Books