Don't Sleep, There are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle [Paperback]

`Fascinating' --The Times

"`Going native' has seldom led to a book as challenging and appealing as this memoir"
--Independent

`"Going native" has seldom led to a book as challenging and appealing as this memoir' --Belfast Telegraph

`Thorough, thought-provoking' --Independent on Sunday

`Quite extraordinary' --Sunday Tribune

'Everett is the most interesting man I have ever met... a fascinating read' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'An astonishing book: a work of exploration, into the most distant place and language, but also a revelation of the way language is shaped by thought and circumstance' The Times

Although Daniel Everett was a missionary, far from converting the Pirahãs, they converted him. He shows the slow, meticulous steps by which he gradually mastered their language and his gradual realisation that its unusual nature closely reflected its speakers' startlingly original perceptions of the world. He describes how he began to realise that his discoveries about the Pirahã language opened up a new way of understanding how language works in our minds and in our lives, and that this way was utterly at odds with Noam Chomsky's universally accepted linguistic theories. The perils of passionate academic opposition were then swiftly conjoined to those of the Amazon in a debate whose outcome has yet to be won. Adventure, personal enlightenment and the makings of a scientific revolution proceed together in this vivid, funny and moving book.

'Astonishing ... a work of exploration, into the most distant place and language, but also a revelation of the way language is shaped by thought and circumstance' Ben Macintyre, The Times A Christian missionary, Daniel Everett arrived in remotest Brazil with his wife and young family in 1977, intending to convert a small tribe of Amazonians called the Piraha. Instead, he found a language that defies Chomsky's linguistic theory and reflects a way of life that evades contemporary understanding: the Piraha have no counting system and no fixed terms for colour. They have no concept of war or of personal property. They live entirely in the present. Everett is the first outsider to learnt heir language. Over time, he came ot understand the remarkable contentment with which they live: so much so that he eventually lost his faith. Perilous adventure, personal enlightenment and the makings of a scientific revolution come together in this vivid, compelling narrative. 'Destined to become a classic' Independent

Daniel Everett was born in California. He lived for many years in the Amazon jungle and conducted research on over a dozen indigenous languages of Brazil. He has published on sound structure, grammar, meaning, culture and language. He has been the subject of endless controversy in academic circles and is currently Professor of Linguistics at Illinois State University.