The ability to abstract patterns from the particular is central to human thought and language. In this important and engaging book, Fortescue argues convincingly that abstraction is the hallmark of human cognition. Both compelling and insightful, the book brings together different approaches and findings from across the language and cognitive sciences. The result is a new and exciting perspective on the not-so-small matter of what makes us so smart.

- Vyvyan Evans , www.vyvevans.net,

Abstract, abstractness, abstraction: we know more or less what we mean by these terms. Or do we? Michael Fortescue, in this provocative and compelling book, analyzes types of abstraction and processes that involve them, in a wide-ranging survey of theories in linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology; placing them in the context of cosmological and evolutionary considerations.

- Chris Sinha, Hunan University,

In sum, <i>The Abstraction Engine</i> is an impressive piece of work that thoroughly examines the importance of abstraction and projection in language, the mind and the brain. While hinging on one central concept, the book spreads out into an extensive discussion of abstraction as pertaining to various fields of scientific interest, including psychology, neuroscience, philosophy and various linguistic disciplines.

- Wout Van Praet, UNamur and KU Leuven, in English Text Construction 11:2 (2018),