How are relationships established between the world's languages? This is one of the most topical and most controversial questions in contemporary linguistics. The central aims of this 2008 book are to answer this question, to cut through the controversies, and to contribute to research in distant genetic relationships. In doing this the authors aim to: (1) show how the methods have been employed; (2) reveal which methods, techniques, and strategies have proven successful and which ones have proven ineffective; (3) determine how particular language families were established; (4) evaluate several of the most prominent and more controversial proposals of distant genetic relationship (such as Amerind, Nostratic, Eurasiatic, Proto-World, and others); and (5) make recommendations for practice in future research. This book will contribute significantly to understanding language classification in general.

《千面英雄:奠定坎贝尔神话学理论基础的经典之作》被称为神话学大师坎贝尔的经典之作。追溯了全世界几乎所有神话系统中与英雄历险相关的故事，并从中揭示出相同的英雄原型。内容涉及人类学、考古学、生物学、文学、心理学、比较宗教学、艺术及流行文化等不同领域，由此构建起坎贝尔独树一帜 的神话学体系，并奠定了他在这一领域的历史地位，成为一代学术宗师。
坎贝尔思想的创造性，在于将人文价值与宇宙性的精神体验，注入当代科学及艺术的诠释中，此一洞见。不仅丰富了神话学的研究领域。更为人类未来开辟出更多想象的空间《千面英雄》自1949年问世以来，已启发并深刻影响了全世界的几代学人，并以多种语言在各地出版，行销数百万册。