Featured Book of the Month

The Study of Animal Languages: A Novel by Lindsay Stern; two birds on an umbrella

The Study of Animal Languages: A Novel

By Lindsay Stern '13

Meet Ivan and Prue: a married couple—both experts in language and communication—who nevertheless cannot seem to communicate with each other.

Ivan is a tightly wound philosophy professor whose reverence for logic and order governs not only his academic interests but also his closest relationships. His wife Prue is quite the opposite: a pioneer in the emerging field of biolinguistics, she is bold and vibrant, full of life and feeling. Thus far, they have managed to weather their differences. But lately, an odd distance has settled in between them. Might it have something to do with the arrival of the college's dashing but insufferable new writer-in-residence, whose novel Prue always seems to be reading?

A dazzlingly insightful and entertaining novel about the limitations of language, the fragility of love, and the ways we misunderstand each other and ourselves, The Study of Animal Languages marks the debut of a brilliant new voice in fiction.

Future Features

The Twice-Born: Life and Death on the Ganges

In The Twice-Born, Aatish Taseer embarks on a journey of self-discovery in an intoxicating, unsettling personal reckoning with modern India, where ancient customs collide with the contemporary politics of revivalism and revenge.

Aatish Taseer '03

The Limits of the World

The Limits of the World illuminates the vast mosaic of cultural divisions and ethical considerations that shape the ways in which we judge one another’s actions. A dazzling debut novel—written with rare empathy and insight—it is a powerful depiction of how we prevent ourselves, unwittingly and otherwise, from understanding the people we are closest to.

Jennifer Acker '00

The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students

Getting in is only half the battle. The Privileged Poor reveals how―and why―disadvantaged students struggle at elite colleges, and explains what schools can do differently if these students are to thrive.

Anthony Abraham Jack '07

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