ALBERT COSTA

Albert Costa was Research Professor at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and director of the Speech Production and Bilingualism Group at the Centre for Brain and Cognition. His research focused on the cognitive and neural underpinnings of language processing.

SINOPSIS

Absorbing and engagingly written. . . Costa is a charming and witty guide. This is a rigorous book about complex science but Costa has a winningly informal style, a deadpan wit, and mixes laboratory findings of cognitive neuropsychology with examples from everyday life, TV programmes, sports and politics

Patrick McGuiness, Guardian

Enlightening and astonishing. . . very readable: the prose is gentle, anecdotal, witty, personal and balanced. . . Albert Costa (a Catalan-Spanish bilingual) died last year, and this book is a great testimony to his lifetime of research into the subject

Tobias Jones, Observer

Fascinating. . . This engaging book explores just how multiple languages are acquired and sorted out by the brain. . . Costa’s work derives from a great fund of knowledge, considerable curiosity and solidly scientific spirit

Phillip Hensher, Spectator

Absorbing. . . Amiably written, and reader-friendly even when delving into the minutiae of bilingualism, this compact but data-dense book throws out some intriguing ideas about the relationship of dual-language use to attitudes and behaviour

Boyd Tonkin, Art’s Desk

A clear and approachable study by a renowned neurologist

Prospect

A fascinating primer on the science of language. . . Anyone with an inquisitive mind and an interest in language in general, and certainly bilingualism specifically, will find this book a compelling read

Victoria Murphy, TES

Neuropsychologist Albert Costa spent two decades exploring bilingualism, and his book offers surprising insights

BBC Science Focus