Things Pictured on "The Stuff of Thought"

Here is an attempt at an exhaustive list of objects drawn as colorful icons on the cover of the hardcover 2007 edition of Steven Pinker’s “The Stuff of Thought.”

  • fork
  • trash can
  • sunglasses
  • lamp, desk
  • salt shaker, pouring
  • football helmet
  • door (safe vault?)
  • film canister, 35 mm
  • mortar and pestle
  • plunger, toilet
  • vial, poison
  • condom
  • speaker, tweeter and woofer
  • cup with toothbrush
  • straitjacket
  • medicine dropper, dropping
  • monitor, computer
  • pills, medicine (capsules)
  • glove (gauntlet)
  • hammer
  • sardine tin, half-open
  • padlock, open
  • briefcase
  • teabag
  • hand grenade, pineapple
  • ice cream cone
  • pinwheel
  • bandage, adhesive strip
  • roll (paper or textile)
  • cigarette or joint
  • paintbrush, dripping
  • dynamite or firecracker, fuse lit
  • bullhorn
  • brassiere
  • toaster, bread popping out
  • bowling pin
  • Martini glass, with olive
  • Game Boy
  • toilet
  • cell phone
  • underpants, briefs
  • teacup and saucer, sugar cube above
  • computer with keyboard (different from computer monitor)
  • blow up doll
  • cigarette or joint (again)
  • flag, atop pole
  • pistol
  • dildo or vibrator
  • hatchet or axe
  • television set
  • handcuffs
  • clock face
  • roll, toilet paper
  • popsicle or creamsicle, bitten
  • straitjacket (again)
  • electric chair
  • lipstick
  • kitchen mixer or egg beater

I think (from the first hundred pages) that each of these items is referenced at some point within the text. But how interesting that the only two items that Steve-o repeats are a straitjacket and a cigarette or joint.

Leave a Reply