A. D. Manning

The Parable: Paul Bolton, a sometimes sober literature professor, despises linguists and linguistic theories. But suppose he is kidnapped by aliens and abandoned with a linguistics student on a distant, desolate planet in the far future. Supposing they learn to survive, can they also figure out how to reprogram an intelligent computer with language abilities and with it defeat an alien invasion fleet?

The Point: "In thinking about probable research agendas for the twenty-first century, it is clear . . . . That linguistics will benefit mightily from the insights afforded to it by analyses that rely on a thorough assimilation of Peirce’s whole philosophy, but especially his semiotic." Michael Shapiro, Language, v. 71: 4 (1995), p. 819.

"In relation to the questions we have just been discussing, the philosopher to whom I feel closest and whom I’m almost paraphrasing is Charles Sanders Peirce." Noam Chomsky, Language and Responsibility (1979), p. 70.)

"I recommend the book, both for the pleasure of the story (and the quality of the writing, economical and rich) and for the book’s ability to incarnate some difficult but important ideas for Peirce." Tom Anderson, Brookline, MA

"An astounding achievement of the combination of linguistics and science fiction in such a way as to hold the reader riveted to the story while teaching subtle linguistic and literary lessons." Matthew C. Gunn, Provo, UT

"Packed with ideas (based on C.S. Peirce’s turn-of-the-century philosophy) about everything from TV shows to alternate realities to time travel to truth, and full of humor, wonderful characters, and a great plot. Supposition Error is hard to put down." Chris Bradford, Baltimore, MD