John Hawthorne is Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at the University of Oxford, having previously been Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. His books include Knowledge and Lotteries, Metaphysical Essays, and Relativism and Monadic Truth.David Manley is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His papers have appeared in such journals as Mind, The Journal of Philosophy, Noûs, and Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.

All in all, The Reference Book is one of the most important contributions to the philosophy of language of the past few years. Acquaintance theorists will have to engage with the criticisms of their views offered in the first part of the book. The unified account of noun phrases defended in the second part will be a central contestant in the debate over the semantics of noun phrases. And the wealth of examples discussed throughout will provide an invaluable source for semanticists and philosophers of language. There is no doubt in my mind that The Reference Book is to become a standard reference for future work on singular thought and the semantics of noun phrases.

• PART I: AGAINST ACQUAINTANCE; PART II: BEYOND ACQUAINTANCE

John Hawthorne is Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at the University of Oxford, having previously been Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. His books include Knowledge and Lotteries, Metaphysical Essays, and Relativism and Monadic Truth.David Manley is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His papers have appeared in such journals as Mind, The Journal of Philosophy, Noûs, and Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.

All in all, The Reference Book is one of the most important contributions to the philosophy of language of the past few years. Acquaintance theorists will have to engage with the criticisms of their views offered in the first part of the book. The unified account of noun phrases defended in the second part will be a central contestant in the debate over the semantics of noun phrases. And the wealth of examples discussed throughout will provide an invaluable source for semanticists and philosophers of language. There is no doubt in my mind that The Reference Book is to become a standard reference for future work on singular thought and the semantics of noun phrases.

• PART I: AGAINST ACQUAINTANCE; PART II: BEYOND ACQUAINTANCE