Whether the reader seeks better understanding of pathologies of language, “garden path” utterances, or would like to negotiate the pathways between disciplines associated with linguistics, this book will serve as a good map for the journey. In the Preface, Ingram refers to the density and often conflicting nature of the data available from a variety of theories and research methods. He endeavors to cut a swath through the jungle of information in order to allow the reader to gain a better understanding of language processing. His able guidance, on what initially appears to be a monumental trek, is both understandable and enjoyable as it is often dosed with humor and illustrative examples. The author appears to be having a conversation with the reader and in a professorial tone often invites/dares the reader to go beyond the information presented and to form different opinions. Following summaries at the end of several early chapters, the text presents a variety of helpful discussion points and study questions. Ingram appears to be planting seeds for future theorists in this area, as what is made clear is that numerous questions remain to be answered in the field of linguistics. Another instructional benefit of this text is Ingram’s ability to condense the breadth of often conflicting data into an approachable and even enticing puzzle for those just beginning study in this domain or the casual reader interested in this topic. Although the scope of the unanswered questions is broad, the latest evidence and research methods are fascinating to learn about as researchers make headway into the forest.

Intended as an introduction to the field for advanced undergraduates or first year graduate students, the text is nicely organized to allow establishment of a foundation of knowledge prior to exploration of the complexities within this field of research. Several chapters would serve as welcome complements for an introduction to neuropsychology or a course on learning disabilities. The reader is referred especially to Chapter 8, and its discussion of auditory processing in order to gain a better understanding about how an actual central auditory processing disorder would present, as opposed to the ubiquitous and amorphous version often seen in clinical practice. Chapter 11 presents a cogent presentation of aphasias, and Chapter 16 describes the breakdown in discourse evident in schizophrenia and other conditions. Both of these latter chapters provide insight into the complex analyses undertaken to grasp the underlying deficits and neurology of these conditions. Having this grounding in the sub-surface considerations would equip clinical students quite well as they later move into the assessment of language-based disorders and other disorders that manifest with language processing disturbance. Equally important to a student’s foundation, Chapters 1 and 2 provide an excellent and understandable stepwise presentation of language theory and linguistic competence. Through these chapters, the reader is presented with modular versus the interactionist hypotheses. Ingram then guides the reader on phonetic and phonological layers of language. Once this base is established, the prosodic, morphological and subsequently syntactical and semantic aspects of language are presented. Finally, the reader eventually arrives upon the shores of conversational discourse. Chapter 3 presents the Broca-Wernicke-Lichtheim model as well as non-localizationist positions, and then provides a summary of neural imaging techniques utilized increasingly in the study of language function. Chapter 4 discusses modularity of language by presenting the work of Chomsky and Fodor, and then progresses to the competing connectionist models and neural networks viewpoints. Helpful examples aided negotiating this chapter.

Chapter 5 begins the more in-depth, but still logically ordered exploration of subdomains by initially examining speech recognition and the challenges of understanding how speech is parsed/translated into lexical access. By gaining an understanding of phonetic forms and phonological representation of words, the reader is prepared to read Chapters 6 and 7, that examine speech perception research and speech and its relation to lexical processing. As mentioned, Chapter 8 thoroughly reviews disorders of auditory processing. From a clinician’s perspective, the role of auditory-acoustic processing deficits in aphasics and the exploration of word deafness were fascinating topics to explore. Chapters 9 through 11 encompass a review of lexical semantics via examination of morphology, lexical semantic networks, and a review of lexical semantic disorders in aphasia. The latter concludes with an intriguing case study examining category specific (edible plants) semantic impairment. Chapter 12 through 14 moves the reader into the deeper recesses of the journey by exploring sentence comprehension. Chapter 12 examines syntactic parsing for simple, complex and ambiguous sentences. Chapter 13 presents research examining the role of working memory capacity in language processing. Chapter 14 examines agrammatism and presents competing theories of grammatical judgment. Chapter 15 begins the final section of this book examining discourse and contextual language. By examining the multiple factors that impact the speaker and the listener, the reader is prepared to examine the aforementioned Chapter 16 on disorders that manifest with impaired discourse. Chapter 17 concludes the text with a presentation of a case study and prospectus.

Throughout the book the author presents evidence for the competing views of modular versus interactive theories of language by summarizing the wealth of data and presenting early theories as well as the most relevant and current research findings within the subdomains of language processing. The improvement in neuro-imaging and other techniques to study on-line evidence of language processing is also summarized for each subdomain, although it is apparent that much more needs to be done to answer former and newer questions that have arisen from these methods. The author deftly provides insight and overview of the wisdom and drawbacks to these competing theories and methodologies, as well as proposes future directions for researchers.

In terms of criticisms, they are few. The author and publisher do attempt to provide the reader with web based auditory examples of the principles described but they were not consistently available. Whether this is due to the technology or the technological deficit disorder of this reviewer is uncertain. The examples that were available added nicely to the experience of reading this book.

In conclusion, this book is a welcome and approachable resource and certainly serves and exceeds its intended goal as an introductory text for the field of neurolinguistics. It is recommended to educators as well as aspiring and practicing clinicians as an important guidebook into the complexities of language processing and relevant disorders of language. This reviewer enjoyed the stroll.