The Power of Language: How the Codes We Use to Think, Speak, & Live Transform Our Minds

Language sometimes seems to confuse and control us. This revolutionary book goes beyond any recent book on language to dissect how it operates in our minds and how to harness its virtually limitless power.

As Dr. Marian explains, while you may well think you speak only one language, in fact there is no such thing as a monolingual person. Some people speak Spanish, some Mandarin. Some speak poetry, some seem to speak only math. The human brain is built to use multiple languages, and using more languages opens doors to all kinds of creativity, brain health, and self-control.

Every new language that we speak extracts and interprets information differently. That alters what we remember, how we perceive ourselves and the world around us, how we feel, the insights we have, the decisions we make, and the actions we take. Language is an invaluable tool for organizing, processing, and structuring information and thereby unleashing radical creativity.

Learning a new language has broad lifetime advantages, but Dr. Marian's own research has shown that it:

Improves executive function—better focus on the road while driving, better focus on what is being taught in the classroom, better focus while reading a book!Results in higher scores on creative-thinking tasks.Develops intellect, which enhances critical reasoning decades later.Delays Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia by four to six years.Improves decisions made under emotional duress.

About the Author

Dr. Viorica Marian is the Ralph and Jean Sundin Endowed Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University. Since 2000, Marian has directed the university's Bilingualism and Psycholinguistics Research Lab, receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. She currently serves as Chair of the National Institutes of Health Study Section on Language and Communication.

Marian is a native speaker of Romanian; a native-like speaker of Russian; a fluent speaker of English; and has studied or conducted research with a variety of other languages, including American Sign Language, Cantonese, Dutch, French, German, Mandarin, Spanish, Thai, and Ukranian.

Apart from scientific papers, Marian has written for Scientific American, Psychology Today, The Hill, Medium, Latino USA, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Chicago Tribune. Her work has been featured on NPR, PBS, BBC, NBC, and CBS, as well as many podcasts. 

Author Residence: Chicago