Don't sleep, there are snakes
A riveting account of the astonishing experiences and discoveries made by linguist Daniel Everett while he lived with the Piraha, a small tribe of Amazonian Indians in central Brazil. Everett, then a Christian missionary, arrived among the Piraha in 1977--with his wife and three young children--intending to convert them. What he found was a language that defies all existing linguistic theories and reflects a way of life that evades contemporary understanding: The Piraha have no counting system and no fixed terms for color. They have no concept of war or of personal property. They live entirely in the present. Everett became obsessed with their language and its cultural and linguistic implications, and with the remarkable contentment with which they live--so much so that he eventually lost his faith in the God he'd hoped to introduce to them. Over three decades, Everett spent a total of seven years among the Piraha, and his account of this lasting sojourn is an engrossing exploration of language that questions modern linguistic theory. It is also an anthropological investigation, an adventure story, and a riveting memoir of a life profoundly affected by exposure to a different culture. Written with extraordinary acuity, sensitivity, and openness, it is fascinating from first to last, rich with unparalleled insight into the nature of language, thought, and life itself.From the Hardcover edition.
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What Hacker News says
- There’s a fascinating book called Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes by Daniel Everett that covers the Piraha people in the Amazon.
Their language is unusual: no recurrent sentences, almost no discussion of the past. I’m not suggesting they are unconscious but there appears to be something different going on with the Piraha sociolinguistically.
- That was interesting, I read 'Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes' a few years back and it left me thinking about all kinds of things, linguistic/cultural etc.
Excerpt: https://www.npr.org/2009/12/23/121515579/excerpt-dont-sleep-...
- If you are interested in the Piraha, the book "Don't sleep, there are snakes" is fantastic. Incredible to read about their language and what life is like deep in the Amazon.
- The book "Don't sleep there are snakes" by Everett is still a very entertaining read! I highly recommend it.
- "don't sleep there are snakes" - half an adventure book, half linguistic analysis and explanation of a fairly unique language.
- If you haven't read it, "don't sleep, there are snakes" is a wonderful read, half travel report, half grammar tutorial.
Everett was even converted by them: after learning language basics he tried to tell them bible stories, but they just asked whether he knew Jesus, and when he said No they asked whether he knew anyone that knew him, which he also denied. At that point they did not have any more interest in the stories. So they do have terms for the past, but they simply don't consider any 'far' past. Wiki summary on this:
> As far as the Pirahã have related to researchers, their culture is concerned solely with matters that fall within direct personal experience, and thus there is no history beyond living memory.
