The 'Language Instinct' Debate: Revised Edition
"Sampson's book is worth reading, because it providesa view of how human languages work without appealing to nativist assumptions...Ihave recommended Pinker (1994) to my colleagues and students, and almost all ofthem have told me that it is one of the best books that they have read aboutlanguage. Sampson agrees that Pinker's book "is superbly well written", but healso says "a book can be well written, and its conclusions quite wrong" (p.14). I will now also recommend Sampson's book to my colleagues and students,and let them judge between the two."(Linguist List)