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Jun 23, 2011

Kinga rated it:

You know know that situation when you meet somebody and they really annoy you but later on, much to your surprise, you end being very good friends with them? That's what happened with me and Mr Everett. My initial reaction to him and what I was reading was: Oh geez, what an American! And I apologise to all my American friends, I love you all, but I did mean that pejoratively. One example: Everett was really upset with all the people of Brazil for seemingly not giving a damn about the fact his wi More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Sep 11, 2009

Shomeret rated it:

Everett's limitations with regard to religion made him unable to understand that the Piraha really did have a religion. They actually spoke to him about their interactions with spirits. The Piraha accept only direct experience as valid. This is why the Bible has no meaning to them, but if Everett had said "I saw Jesus today and this is what he told me," they would have accepted that as legitimate testimony. Direct interaction with the divine is found in all religious traditions. T More...

5 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 15, 2011

Kim rated it:

I wanted to like this book but I never really trusted its author, a linguist with an editor who used the phrase "a myriad of" in the first chapter. Everett's descriptions of the Pirahas are oddly incongruent. For example, he characterized them as "peaceful" right before mentioning the rape of a young woman by "most" of the men in the village. While most anthropologists would consider this a significant event, Everett refers to it in parentheses. Everett says the Pi More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2011

Jan rated it:

I read an interview with the author (in all honesty, one of the best interviews out there) on the Survival International homepage and I was therefore encouraged to go ahead and purchase the book.

Overall, the book strengthened my belief that there is an inherent arrogance in the attitude of missionaries whose zeal is simply that of achieving religious coercion.
Christian religion, and other world religions, are not genuinely universal and Everett's failed attempt at converting the More...

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Jul 20, 2011

Rita marked it as to-read

Kinga gave 4 stars to: Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes by Daniel L. Everett
bookshelves: latin-america, non-fiction, travel, words-words-words
status: Read in June, 2010

You know know that situation when you meet somebody and they really annoy you but later on, much to your surprise, you end being very good friends with them? That's what happened with me and Mr Everett. My initial reaction to him and what I was reading was: Oh geez, what an American! And I apologise to all my Am More...

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Jan 17, 2011

Yune rated it:

Everett lives among the Pirahã, an Amazonian people, in order to study their language. Interesting experiences and thoughts about the intertwined nature of language and culture, but couched in workmanship-like writing.

Still, I appreciated how he could relate the story of the tribesfolk saying, "Don't forget to bring back this list of goods!" when he's desperately trying to get his wife and daughter to a hospital from this remote region before they die of malaria, and show a More...

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Aug 31, 2010

Clarissa rated it:

This book seems like three separate books rolled into one. I'm not sure that they all belonged in one volume. And parts of all three are mixed together with no discernible method of ordering them.

The first of the three books is a collection of stories from the author's experiences living with the Pirahas, an Amazonian tribe still largely untouched by the modern world. Most of these stories were good; some were boring. If he had stopped here, I would have given him 4 or 5 stars. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 13, 2010

Frank rated it:

Another one of the best books I've read all year.

At first I was enjoying the book as a fairly typical, though well-written, anthropology slash adventure story, concerning an idealistic young missionary who goes off into the Amazon to convert an almost untouched tribe of hunter-gatherers. Everett gives a wonderful sense of life among the tribe, and of those great little moments which show exactly how similar and how different we all are: from the time the men killed the anacond More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2010

Randall rated it:

This was an interesting non-fiction book about a missionary / professional linguist who spent three decades in the Amazon jungle living with a local tribe. His original mission was to learn their language so that he could convert them to Christianity. The language itself turned out to be completely unlike any other language that had previously been documented, and the longer the missionary spent in the midst of the tribe, the less sure he became of his own convictions. The book gave a fascinatin More...

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Feb 10, 2010

David rated it:

Ok, I'll say it. It creeps me out when over-educated/churched white people go to live in jungles with non-white/non-educated/underprivileged people to "learn" their way and then promote their way of life as some kind of idyllic vision.

The writing is not great, so you'll have to enjoy this one on its non-fiction contributions. The general idea, as Everett puts it, is that standard view of linguistics (grammar is divorced somewhat from semantics and is universal in nature) ca More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

May 01, 2009

Eris_discordia rated it:

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0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 25, 2009

Kayleen rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 07, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

So far this is a very interesting book about a group of people I'd never heard of before with a unique language. The perspective of the missionary who went to live among them adds a nice, personal touch, though his constant contradictions of himself is irritating. For instance:

-He says they have no word for 'sorry', and then a few pages later translates an apology using that word.
-He says that violence is uncommon and never tolerated, right after describing a gang rape in which More...

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Jan 21, 2012

Diana rated it:

This book has a lot to recommend it — a first hand account of an Amazonian tribe who've had little contact with the outside world (although they had had some contact with other Christian missionaries and regular contact with river traders). It's worth reading to learn what it's like to live the jungle and the descriptions of insects and snakes certainly dispelled any romantic notions I had about travelling down the Amazon.

I was fascinated by this tribe who live in the "now" More...

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Oct 29, 2009

Valerie rated it:

So far I've seen a great quote, something along the lines of "This book is about the lessons I've learned. Someone else would have learned different lessons."

I bought this book because it was used at Bookshop Santa Cruz, and I was in the mood for travel. In a previous life time I was an anthropology major at UCSC, and I've taken linguistics classes. I didn't realize that this book was about linguistics when I purchased it on a whim, and my heart sank a little when I real More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 06, 2010

Nancy rated it:

Hmmm. All over the place, this one. The first section is a pretty typical "missionary heads to Amazon with family, you can tell some big changes are up ahead" story. The second section is a fairly technical description of the language of the Pirahã, which I admit to skimming large bits of, because I can only read so much about recursion and human language before I drift. And the third, very short, section describes the fallout on Everett's life of his time with the Pirihã.
More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 07, 2010

Rebecca rated it:

This is one of the most interesting books I've read in recent memory. The author (a former-Christian-missionary-turned-linguist) gives an account of his time spent among the Piraha people of the Amazon and what he learned about their culture and language during his years trying to convert them to Christianity and translate the Bible into their language, Piraha.

The first section of the book describes the daily trials of living in the Amazon, how the Pirahas live, what they do, and ho More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 22, 2009

Melody rated it:

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Feb 10, 2009

Jenni rated it:

Absolutely fascinated by this book. Given to me by my mother after she got it for Christmas and also adored it, I can see I will be recommending it to others - and of course Richard is also in line to read it soon.

It's divided into unequal halves - the long half recounting the story of working and living with the Pirahã indians of the Brazilian Amazon, and the shorter half going into more detail about the linguistic theories and findings that this work has brought or helped to bring More...

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Feb 10, 2011

Jill rated it:

Daniel Everett is a professor of linguistics at Illinois State University who spent several years among the Pirahã Indians of Amazonian Brazil. [Pirahã is pronounced pee-da-HAN.] This book is a memoir of that time, but it is also a detailed description of the civilization and culture of the Pirahã and an analysis of their very unusual language.

Evaluation: This book is often quite interesting, especially in terms of the linguistic characteristics of the Pirahã and the implications f More...

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Jan 23, 2010

Malka rated it:

This book started off really well. I was fascinated by the concept of a family of Christian missionaries traveling to the Amazon to live with a primitive tribe. I enjoyed learning about the tribe's unique culture and approach to life as well as their language which is apparently completely unrelated to any other known language.
I had read on the flap of the book that the author had traveled with the intent of converting these folks to Christianity, but came away with a different outlook on More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 10, 2009

Sandy rated it:

An interesting book, if a little disjointed. The author combines an autobiographical account of his work as a missionary and a linguist among a group of Indians in Brazil (the Piraha) with some classic ethnography (describing the culture as a whole) and musings on linguistics theory, philosophy, and religion.

The Piraha are really different, both in terms of language and culturally. If you want to read about about people that think about life in a fundamentally different way, this is More...

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Oct 10, 2011

Suz rated it:

Meh? White missionary man goes to hang out with those primitive brown people in the jungle and learns a lesson and has wacky hijinks along the way! At least for part of the book... I guess if you are into linguistics, this book would be better. But I'm not.

The first part of the book was largely short stories about the author's life with the Piraha, their attitudes, customs, lives. And if it had ended there, I probably would have liked it a whole lot better.

The mi More...

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Apr 17, 2011

Britt rated it:

This book is not terribly well-written. However, the subject matter absolutely fascinating, and the book is completely worth reading solely based on the author's unique experience with the Pirahã. You will find this book interesting if you're interested in linguistics, anthropology—or aliens or invented cultures in science fiction and fantasy.

The major problems are with pacing and organization. There were strange choices about the details included and glossed over in anecdotes. (I k More...

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Aug 02, 2010

Sarita rated it:

Everett's story of how learning the language of a tribe whose culture had proved previously impenetrable to anthropoligists, linguists, and missionaries is a fascinating one. Definitely worth the read, if you're willing to skip around a bit. I say that, because:
a) If you're into linguistics, you'd probably want to read more about his theories
b) If your eyes glaze over once when he says "phoneme blah blah blah recoursive" I, I mean, hypothetical-you, would probably want to More...

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Dec 28, 2008

Mary rated it:

So, my boyfriend bought this book for himself, but before he could read it I picked it up one Saturday and glanced over it and before I knew it I'd spent the whole afternoon reading the thing. And not only could I not put it down, I couldn't stop myself from reading out loud whenever I got to some mind-bogglingly weird fact, which was about every other page, so I pretty much completely ruined this book for James by bursting out every few minutes with, "Ok, so they have this one word that m More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 12, 2008

André rated it:

I immediately ordered and read this book when it came out, and indeed it's a very interesting work on the Pirahã, their language, their culture and the famous Dan Everett. I'm a little bit surprised and disappointed though about a few minor things. Most of all his transcription of the Pirahã language with one and the same word varying quite widely. I am aware that consonants can often be replaced by other consonants, but I thought at least the vowels and/or the tonal pattern and the vowel length More...

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Apr 05, 2010

Renee rated it:

This book is a fascinating account of Daniel Everett’s experience as he lived with the Piraha (pee-da-HAN) Indians in a remote Amazonian jungle. At the beginning of his trek, Everett was a young Christina missionary, whose focus was to bring Jesus into the lives of this tribe. After many years, he became so entangled in the simplicity and brevity of jungle life, that he eventually lost his faith in the god he hoped to introduce the Piraha to.
Everett is a professor of linguistics, hence thi More...

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Jun 26, 2009

Patrick rated it:

Twenty-six year old Daniel Everett left the United States 1977 for the bowels of the Amazon, as a Christian missionary, to study the language of a remote tribe called the Pirahas (pronounced ‘pee-da-HAN’) and eventually translate the Bible into this rare and extremely difficult dialect. Now, Daniel admits, he is old enough for senior discounts and his grandchildren all know the Pirahas. He has also written a wonderful book about the complexities of language, culture, society, survival, death, an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 21, 2009

Barbara rated it:

Daniel's Everett's account of his experiences living with the Piraha Indians in the jungles of central Brazil. He arrives as a missionary in 1977 determined to learn the Piraha language, translate the New Testament, and eventually convert them. Instead he ends up forever changed--no longer a believer in Christianity or current linguistic theory.

Don't Sleep is basically divided in two--the first and longer section focuses on Everett's experiences with the Piraha over three decade More...

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