The Adaptable Mind

Zerilli (Univ. of Oxford) provides a pithy, readable account of salience and neural reuse in modeling cognitive activities related to language ... a useful introduction to the neural reuse literature. Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. * G. C. Gamst, University of La Verne, CHOICE *
The prose is clear, succinct and lively. In many places it tips over into elegance. Indeed the exposition is so clear that, although I'm a cognitive scientist rather than a philosopher, I learned a good deal from reading it. Zerilli is equally at home with neural and behavioural data, and well-informed about the history of neuroscience. Overall, this book provides a clear, rigorous, well-informed examination of how we should conceive of modularity in the light of recent evidence of neural reuse. Many of the lines of argument are original and likely to make a valuable contribution to enquiry about modularity in general, and the modularity of language in particular." * Cecilia Heyes, All Souls College, Oxford *
The book provides a thoroughly researched and well-written review of the literature on brain modularity. It lays out the various possible positions in the debate, and the sorts of evidence that might push proponents into one or another of the locations in the landscape of ideas, with admirable clarity. It is beautifully executed and will prove to be an extremely useful guide to anyone in the field, but especially, I think, for younger scholars looking for a way into the debate. I will certainly be assigning it in my graduate seminars." * Michael L. Anderson, Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University *
One of the most outstanding features of this book is the quality and clarity of its argument, especially concerning the number of fields and complex subjects it ranges across-from neuropsychology, to linguistics and cognitive neuroscience. This is a complex and technical field, but Zerilli's control of the concepts and evidence is masterful." * Richard Menary, Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University *