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

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Daniel L. Everett

Don't Sleep, There are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle Kindle Edition

by Daniel Everett (Author)

60 customer reviews

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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.

Everett 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. Everett's views are most recently discussed in Tom Wolfe's bestselling The Kingdom of Speech.

Adventure, personal enlightenment and the makings of a scientific revolution proceed together in this vivid, funny and moving book.

Length: 314 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled

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Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 8335 KB
Print Length: 314 pages
Publisher: Profile Books; Main edition (9 July 2010)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
Language: English
ASIN: B0037Z8SMC
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

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Word Wise: Enabled
Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Average Customer Review: 60 customer reviews
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #40,255 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #8 in Kindle Store > Books > Education & Reference > Words & Language > Linguistics
- #10 in Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Central & South America > Brazil > Amazon
- #95 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Linguistics > Reference

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and one more smart atheist. And atheist-haters should read it

27 November 2016

Verified Purchase

Very, very few evangelical missionaries write books describing how they lost their faith. Especially not the sincere, honest evangelicals.
But Everett failed to translate the Gospel in the language of the tribal people he thought he would convert. Because their language can only take actual facts, and very concrete, very in-the-moments thoughts. And the Gospel is not exactly about facts, something which Everett came to recognize.
So, score one for Free Thinkers, one tribal people is still Christianity-free, and there is one less evangelical in the world, and one more smart atheist.
And atheist-haters should read it, because Everett, a very rare case among new atheists remains extremely respectful of his former faith.

Definitely an excellent book.

2 people found this helpful

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A Fascinating Book - which Challenges Assumptions.

29 October 2018

Verified Purchase

This book will be of great interest to anyone with an interest in the Social Sciences or Linguistics. The author -with his family - spent over two decades living with a tribe of hunter-gatherers in the jungle . He became proficient in their language and used it to gain insight into a way of life that is probably now disappearing .The language itself had many unusual feature- no words for numbers or colours or left or right . The tribes-people seemed to be very resistant to outside influence and reject any changes to their way of life . But despite the hardships of their lifestyle these people seem adapted to their world and happy.
The author is no starry-eyed romantic but intelligent and insightful . He obviously knew these people very well and this knowledge forms his conclusions .
I recommend this book to anyone interested in either other societies- or our own .

Comment

Querulous Enquirer

Smashing idols is not an easy task, whether pagan or 'scientific'

1 December 2015

Verified Purchase

A missionary goes deep into the Amazon jungle to try and convert a remote tribe to his religion but has first to learn the language. He discovers some interesting things about their worldview as exemplified by their language, and finds them so completely resistant to his own worldview that he loses his grip on it--who's converting whom? He also finds the Great God of Linguistics, Noam Chomsky, resistant to his observations about the language, since it contradicts Chomsky's favourite ideas about universality in language. Another ostracizing of a scientist who dares to observe things with an open mind. Very interesting read.

One person found this helpful

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11 April 2015

Verified Purchase

This book is divided in two parts. The first is Everett's life among the Pirahãs, a hunter-gatherer tribe of the Amazon, and among the Brazilian residents in that area. The second is about the peculiarity of Pirahã language and, I admit, I did not read it. Therefore, my review is just for the first part of the book and for the epilogue where he describes how he became an atheist. I enjoyed the impartial description of the Pirahãs: he praises the Pirahãs for their happiness, gentleness and relaxed way of life (they don't even have words for depression or stress), but he also points out occasions where they let a woman die without help during childbirth and where they committed infanticide, not nice things to do according to our cultural perspective. However I feel that Everett didn't tell everything he could about the Pirahãs, providing, in my opinion, an incomplete but nevertheless entertaining overview about their lives.

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A most appropriate book to buy from Amazon

14 March 2014

Verified Purchase

This is a fascinating book on many levels. A first hand account of a man who took his family to a remote part of the Amazon jungle to live among an isolated tribe who had no interest in joining "civilization". The experience of a family who had to learn a language not spoken by any outsider and none of the natives were fluent in other languages. The experience of an academic who challenged academia because the language he was studying did not conform to fit current theories. And the story of a missionary who lost his faith. My only disappointment is the lack of references. Now we have the internet it is relatively easy to look up Daniel Everett and the other linguists he mentions, and find their books and papers. But it would give more weight to his arguments if he quoted some sources and provided a bibliography.

One person found this helpful

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Oliver Cromwell

awesome, fascinating reading

26 August 2013

Verified Purchase

This is the story of an American missionary who thought he had something to teach the "primitive" and "naive" Amazonian tribes. He describes how he lost his faith in a way that will be clear to those of us who lost their faith at some point in their life too. It won't be so clear if you're still religious. He also talks about this unique language and the things it can reveal about language and thought in general. Everett's ideas are not widely accepted among linguists today; most of whom are on Chomsky's side. Everett is nevertheless the only serious contestant of Chomsky and the Universal Grammar, and his ideas are worth reading. Overall, a fascinating book I have already read twice

One person found this helpful

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Alex Butterworth

Absolutely amazing book. So fascinating

27 October 2017

Verified Purchase

Absolutely amazing book. So fascinating, showing you a different way of life and world view you could hardly imagine without this. This is absolutely fascinating, beautifully written, probably the best and most influential book I've read in over a year

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Leslie Catalina Esparza

whose way of living proposes a secret to happiness. Great story teller and humble enough to share ...

13 November 2014

Verified Purchase

Revealing, enlightening, hilarious at times. Everett is an honest linguist and scientist, an honest human being but above all he is honest to the Pirahas, whose way of living proposes a secret to happiness. Great story teller and humble enough to share the profound teachings from this incredible, natural, people. The cherry of the cake is his well structured criticism to Chomsky's universal grammar theory and his own journey from missionary to atheist convert. I could not ask more. What a great surprise, what a great read.

3 people found this helpful

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