Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy,The origins of complex language: an inquiry into the evolutionary beginnings of sentences, syllables, and truth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. xi+260.

Simon Kirby,Function, selection, and innateness: the emergence of language universals. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. xvi+156.

Daniel Nettle,Linguistic diversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. xi+168.

If I find that a book I am reading for review is interesting, then I count myself lucky. If it turns out to be insightful, then I am fortunate indeed. The fact that I was given three books to review, each of which is not only interesting and insightful, but downright ENJOYABLE, makes me feel like a winner of the Linguistic Lottery. The books are the first three to appear in a new series on language evolution published by the Oxford University Press. Given the quality of the first entries, my advice to all linguists is to put yourselves down for standing orders for the ones to follow.