Given the small number of introductory psycholinguistics books currently available, it is not
only refreshing to find a new one but also delightful to find one as accessible to general
audiences as Altmann's The Ascent of Babel. Altmann, a professor at the
University of York and an established psycholinguistics researcher, aimed to write a book that
anyone could understand and enjoy. Indeed, he has succeeded. The result is not just another
run-of-the-mill textbook. The prose reads like the transcription from a semester of lectures or
from a very long conversation carried out between mentor and student. The prose reads as
smoothly as it does, in part, because there are no references cited within the text. They have been
included at the end of the book in a chapter-by-chapter format. In addition, very few researchers
are mentioned by name, which serves to speed readers along, allowing them to focus on findings
rather than individuals. The names that are mentioned are of those at the top of the field who
should become known to every student of psycholinguistics.