Hi, I came here via lurking at Metafilter. I'm just interested in what books you'd recommend in the field of linguistics. I'm an avid reader and noticed you didn't like what Chomsky or Pinker had to offer in that field so I'd like to hear what you'd recommend instead. Thanks.

Brett.

Lithuanian, Yiddish, eating: this reminds me of the delicious kybyn (kibinai) I had in the Lithuanian city of Trakai in summer. This dish is traditional for the Jewish Karaim community in Trakai.

Brett: There are good short lists here and here; I don't know most of the books, but I haven't been keeping up with the field for the last 25 years or more, so the books I do know are pretty ancient: Bloomfield, Hockett, etc. Since the books I do know on these lists are good, and they don't have any Chomsky, I figure they're OK. Oh, and I highly recommend Jim Quinn's American Tongue and Cheek; it's not a linguistics book as such, but it's a very sharp look at various controversial points of English usage informed by sound linguistic reasoning, plus it's funny as hell. He's a true populist and my kind of guy.

The blog reminds me of the following joke:

What is Jewish history in less than ten words?

They tried to kill us. They lost. Let's eat.