I was very disappointed to find no other reviews of this interesting book...get with it, this is worth reading, and worth discussing widely.

I came to Yarbrough's book because I'd been puzzling over how, supposedly, rational people could reach such different conclusions from the same data. Just saying, "well, you are not from my culture, so you will NEVER understand!" seemed to be an horribly unsatisfying communication failure. After reading Yarbrough, I have a much better understanding of the trap we have stumbled into, which hinges on believing that there are Cultures (whose foundational assumptions creates a false groundings, below which no further discussion can proceed) and that Language is some "thing" not a process that changes the world even as we are making our discussions.

I've read very lightly in postmodernism, and make no claim to understand it, however, I am heartened by the pathway he has found, which may show a way out; a way, simply, to leave the conundrums behind and start talking with each other to make a world that may better meet our needs. This pathway starts with the process of trying to understanding the conditions in our--at most(?) one shared world-- which prompts another's statements and then striving to be able to predict what they will say next, which is the first indication of understanding. If he is right, and if we are able to leave behind the poisonous beliefs that hold us captive, and if we are able take to heart this new way of writing and talking with each other, then there can be a very rich life after postmodernism, and after our obsession with culturalism and multiculturalism, too.