“Bickerton bar-hops through some of the world’s most exotic locations and languages, and somehow along the way he manages to crack one of the deepest mysteries of language itself. A fantastic and frank account of research in the real world.” —Christine Keneally, author of The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language

“Derek Bickerton is one of the great modern contributors to our understanding of language, and Bastard Tongues combines an intellectual detective story, a disarmingly frank autobiography, and a tale of adventures in exotic places. If you’re curious about the origins of pidgins, Creoles, or indeed language itself, start here. If you already know Bickerton’s ideas and want to know where they came from, this book is for you, too.” —Melvin Konner, author of The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit, revised edition

“Open the book at almost any page and you’ll be drawn in by the exotic places, interesting people, and the unfolding detective story about how a new language gets started. There is nothing dry about linguistics when Derek is telling the story. It’s a delight to read.”—William H. Calvin, author of Global Fever: How to Treat Climate Change

“A fascinating memoir from one of the most innovative and literate linguists of our age.” —Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Language Instinct, Words and Rules, and The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature