Lexicon by Max Barry

It could be argued that language is the most important development in the history of mankind. It is the worldwide basis for communication and expression. However, it also provides a foundation for manipulation. Coercion was born through language, therefore making words the most powerful interpersonal weapon in the world. Max Barry’s Lexicon, exposes the art of persuasion for what it truly is: a deadly science.

“The brain had defenses, filters evolved over millions of years to protect against manipulation. The first was perception, the process of funneling an ocean of sensory input down to a few key data packages worthy of study by the cerebral cortex. When data got by the perception filter, it received attention. And she saw now that it must be like that all the way down: There must be words to attack each filter. Attention words and then maybe desire words and logic words and urgency words and command words. This was what they were teaching her. How to craft a string of words that would disable the filters one by one, unlocking each mental tumbler until the mind's last door swung open.” 

The book’s premise is that anyone’s mind can be infiltrated with the correct sequence of syllables. The people with the skills to put these sequences together are referred to as Poets, and learn their trade at an exclusive school where psycho- graphic markers hold the key to mind manipulation. Poets learn how to identify personality types, and craft sentences that will allow them to access the control center of the brain. They can make people feel, think, or do anything they want. The main conflict of the story surrounds the consequences of a word that should never have been created; a word that can kill. Barry’s novel is a weave of dystopian sci-fi and neuroscience. Lexicon not only upgrades words to weapons, but deploys them to spellbind its readers.

I think that Lexicon is an important book for anyone who is, or wants to become, an avid reader. There is quite a lot of neuroscience jargon throughout the novel, so at times it is not the easiest book to read, but in my opinion it’s worth it. The novel centers on the power of words, and while the particular words used in Lexicon don’t exist in the English language, I think the message can be applied to the words that we do have. While we may not be able to use words to invade someone’s mind, we can use them to inspire. The word inspire is defined as “filling (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, especially to do something creative”. Books inspire us. They are a collection of words that “infiltrate” our minds with fantasy worlds, stories of love and loss, and ideas to enrich our lives. The perspective on language that Barry presents in his novel could be interpreted as a commentary on reading. I think that every book a person reads influences them, at least I know that is the case for me. Every sentence that an author crafts tells a story, but each sentence also changes the person reading it. Occurring in both big and small ways, books reframe our view of the world every time we read them.