I liked this one, but I didn’t looooooove it. 

I appreciate what Mondell is doing for linguistics and her approach to it opens the conversation for the importance of language studies. Her approach is a bit too casual for me with this. 

It’s a good a book and provides a solid information base and introduction to how language has the ability to manipulate thousands of people. She goes through some big cults, discusses mlm schemes, exercise gurus, and shows why discounting vocabulary and language only serves to hurt. Being aware of how and when words and phrases are used helps give us a defense when used against us. 

I did learn a lot, though. I think her casual tone provides the reader a safety net to listen. I’m not sure it’s needed. I wish it was a smidge more academic.