This really is one of the best books about linguistics ever written--maybe the best. As a linguist, it brought me to a whole new level of insight about my field. I wish I'd read it before I ever started graduate school, instead of afterwards--every graduate student should read this before taking their first syntax course. I managed to make it through six years of graduate school without ever understanding why people found syntax and semantics interesting; this book helped me to understand why they did. That's not really the best thing about this book, though; the best thing about it is the story that it tells about an exciting and turbulent time in the scientific field that's more interesting (to me, at any rate) than any other.

I've spent months looking for a survey of twentieth century linguistics that explains the models and theories as well as the politics behind it all. This is the book. Buy it, enjoy it.