I usually read a book at my desk at lunch at work, on my screen. The other day one of the interns with whom I routinely work came by to ask me a question and noticed I was reading something.

So she as people do asked me what I was reading.

I said, “Cognitive Neuroscience of Language by David Kemmerer.”

She said, “Is that like for a class or something?”

Me: “No. No class.”

Intern: “Oh, did you major in that? Like in college?”

Me: “No, just thought the book looked interesting and it’s related to something I’ve been thinking about.”

Intern: “But why are you reading it?”

Me: “When I was a kid, I used to invent my own languages and such. Now I’m researching how language works at the neural level the best we know, anyway, to see if there are more pragmatic ways of designing languages without something so absurd as Lojban but with some optimization and greater specifiability but without related reductions in connotative expressiveness necessarily built in.”

Intern: “Ok, I don’t think I understood any of that but sounds, uh, interesting? Anyway, about that system….”

What’s wrong with some light lunch reading? 😉 Anyway, the book I mentioned is rather good. I’d say you need some significant grounding in functional and theoretical linguistics and neuroscience (or be a quick learner) before you tackle this book, though.

It is not a book aimed at undergrads. Fortunately, I am not an undergrad so with looking up a few words here and there it’s fine and a good read.