The search for the perfect language
by Umberto Eco · first published 1995
70% recommend30% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Readable history of European attempts to build a perfect or universal language, useful for language lovers and programmers interested in how programming languages trace back to older ideas.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…meaningful definition of free will is compatible with determinism”. Spot on! "We must believe in free will -- we have no choice." - Isaac Bashevis Singer 5. “There’s a book by Umberto Eco called ‘The Search for the Perfect Language,’ ” he said. Great book that I would recommend to anyone. 6. "In “Understand,” he pointed out, the protagonist learns to reprogram his own mind." After finishing Snow Crash I have been thinking that…
on “Ted Chiang's Soulful Science Fiction” ↗One Eco's book relevant, IMO, for programmers: "The search for the Perfect Language". In a way, it can be thought of as a prequel to the history of programming languages. https://www.amazon.com/Search-Perfect-Language-Umberto-Eco/d...
on “Umberto Eco: Texts, sign systems and the risks of over-interpretation” ↗When it comes to book recommendations I would recommend Umberto Eco's The Search for the Perfect Language.
on “Linguistics and Programming Languages” ↗I can recommend his book. The Search for the Perfect Language - Umberto Eco - 2010
on “An amateur linguist loses control of the language he invented (2012)” ↗Umberto Eco's The Search for the Perfect Language is a great read on this subject (http://www.amazon.com/Search-Perfect-Language-Making-Europe/...)
on “Google Is Working on a New Type of Algorithm Called “Thought Vectors”” ↗If you're interested in language, I highly recommend 'The Search for the Perfect Language'[1] by Umberto Ecco. Highly readable and incredibly interesting history of those wanting to extend the capabilities of language. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Search-Perfect-Language-Making-Europe/...
on “The Limits of Language” ↗If you are interested in this, I recommend Umberto Eco's book, The Search for the Perfect Language, which goes into some depth on the history of...this sort of thing.
on “Leibniz, Llull, and the Computational Imagination” ↗…seems to be the initial take on every untranslated writing system: Chinese, hieroglyphics, Mayan, Minoan/Mycenaean, etc. If you're interested in this sort of thing, I recommed Umberto Eco's book, The Search for the Perfect Language. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_Kircher#Egyptology [2] https://publicdomainreview.org/2013/05/16/athanasius-kircher... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters#History [4]…
on “The miracle of reading and writing Chinese characters” ↗Another book you may enjoy in this vein is Umberto Eco's The Search for the Perfect Language — https://www.amazon.com/Search-Perfect-Language-Making-Europe....
on “Trüth, Beaüty, and Volapük (2012)” ↗…speaking one; if not than not. Also, the concept of “easiest possible language” of course is ill-defined and learner dependent. If you’re interested in artificial languages one interesting book is Eco’s The Search for the Perfect Language. If I were pressed to pick an easy to learn language I’d say learn a creole language, which are relatively simplified. This is where Sivers was going with the Swahili idea, I think: although Swahili…
on “Esperanto, Toki Pona, Swahili, Indonesian” ↗Check out Umberto Eco, The Search for the Perfect Language.
on “Tom Wolfe takes on linguistics” ↗"The Search for the Perfect Language" is a really entertaining book if you like codes, languages, occult history, and/or chuckling at hubristic academic endeavors.
on “WikiLambda the Ultimate” ↗Umberto Eco's "The Search for the Perfect Language" comes to mind https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Search+for+the+Perfect+Langu...
on “The World's Most Efficient Languages (2016)” ↗This is getting very close to the Universal Language that Umberto Eco describes in his book The Search for the Perfect Language. I wonder what he would think about this if he were alive today...
on “Abstract Wikipedia” ↗Speaking of Larry Wall (creator of Perl) above, "the search for the perfect language" is his favorite book I believe.
on “Linguistics and Programming Languages” ↗