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

by Daniel Everett (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Profile Books (6 Nov 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1846680301
  • ISBN-13: 978-1846680304
  • Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 98,778 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'Dan Everett has written an excellent book. First, it is a very powerful autobiographical account of his stay with the Piraha in the jungles of the Amazon basin. Second, it is a brilliant piece of ethnographical description of life among the Piraha. And third, and perhaps most important in the long run, his data and his conclusions about the language of the Piraha run dead counter to the prevailing orthodoxy in linguistics. If he is right, he will permanently change our conception of human language.' - John Searle, Slusser Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley'This is 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.' Ben Macintyre, The Times'Astonishing... a warm tribute to this people's unique way of seeing the world... full of wonder while conveying the fragility of the Piraha way.' Waterstone's Books Quarterly


Edward Gibson, Professor of Cognitive Sciences, MIT

'Everett is the most interesting man I have ever met... a fascinating read'
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
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3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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102 of 105 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Never Read a Book so Quickly!, 10 Nov 2008
By Mr. N. T. Baxter "Neil" (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
I bought this book on Saturday. It's Monday now and I've just finished it, which for me is very fast indeed, and a reflection on what a fascinating and well written book it is.

I heard the author talking about his travels and studies on BBC Radio 4 and thought his ideas about linguistics were interesting, but when I had a quick look at the book before I bought it I realised it was much more than an work about the theory of language. It's actually a rare combination of exciting adventure story, anthropology AND linguistics. The conclusions Everett reaches after 30 years of living amongst the Piraha people get right to the heart of what makes us who we are as human beings, and provide a fascinating insight into another way of life we would otherwise never have heard of, or at least would understand only superficially.

The first half of the book focuses on the lives of the Piraha (and the experiences of Everett living with them), the second half focuses on the linguistics. This structure works really well and the book is a great fusion of entertainment and information throughout.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Timely Parable, 31 Jan 2009
By Dr. Jack Angelo (South Wales) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Daniel Everett's beautufully written account of a linguist and missionary who arrogantly intends to 'convert' an obscure and endangered Amazonian tribe to Christianity, and thereby 'save' them. But he discovers that they are the happiest people he has ever met, living completely in the moment, with none of the psychological hang-ups that plague so-called civilized people. In a moving and courageous book, the author describes his deep admiration forthe tribe and eventual decision to give up 'the crutches' of orthodox religion and embrace a spirituality of the now.
Don't Sleep, There are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars TERRIFIC BOOK ABOUT LIFE, 15 Jan 2009
This is a book about life and reality, about the thinking of a linguist working to understand a people and their culture in the Amazon jungle. It's a terrific amalgam of adventure story, study of a remote culture, thoughtful analysis of linguistics.

For many readers I imagine that the main difficulty with the book would/will be the detailed chapters on linguistics, but these are central to the books main message, .... which is that language is deliciously intertwined with world-view ... and that the Piraha people have both a very distinctive language and a distinctive world-view. For example, it is fascinating that the Piraha people live very much "in the present" and base their world-view on what they directly experience or what people they know at first-hand directly experience. This explains why it was/is difficult to make the Bible Story (about people long dead) relevant to them.

I'm not a linguist, but my vote is with Everetts linguistic pragmatism rather than Chomsky's theories. And in saying that we're taking about how reality is structured and experienced (for all of us) rather than some linguistic backwater.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
An amazing insight in the different ways there ae of being a human being. The author, a liguist and a Christian missionary, with his family, travelled to and lived among a remote... Read more
Published 1 month ago by John R. Sharp

5.0 out of 5 stars Life, language and religion
One of the most fascinating books I have read. The author spent 30 years living with an isolated group of Amazonian Indians whose live entirely in the present and speak a unique... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Brian Williams

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written and edited, badly structured book that can't decide what it's about
I was very disappointed in Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes. I found it badly written, poorly structured, over-long and in all, a frustrating read, meandering along like the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by E. S. Carroll

5.0 out of 5 stars Bowled over
This is the best book I have read in ages. Not only is it gripping for linguists as the author gets to grips with an impenetrable tribal language, the epic tale of living with a... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Clevor Trevor

5.0 out of 5 stars completely fascinating
This book has been criticised for not being well enough written - well maybe, but it didn't matter to me! Read more
Published 5 months ago by Jan

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
Personally I found this book somewhat disappointing.
It's less about the Piraha and more about Mr Everett and his study of their anthropology and linguistics, which... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Dave S

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't sleep, there are snakes
I love this book. It is very interesting to read about the Amazonian tribe, fascinating to hear about people that live completely in the present and have no need for our... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Anka

5.0 out of 5 stars A scintillatingly scientific book
Dan Everett has managed something quite rare for a writer covering a quite dense scientific subject and that is to make his book highly accessible, humorous and enlightening. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. K. Papas

5.0 out of 5 stars MUST READ
Beautiful book, very moving too as it describes the interaction of the Amazon culture with the culture of the American missionary who in the end is himself "converted"to their... Read more
Published 9 months ago by James Stuart

5.0 out of 5 stars For those with an interest in the Amazon tribes and how language is constructed
I bought this book as a present for a friend who has a son doing missionary work in Peru, having heard bits of it on Radio 4. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Elaine Golding

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