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176 reviews for:
Das glücklichste Volk: sieben Jahre bei den Pirahã-Indianern am Amazonas
Daniel L. Everett
3.8 AVERAGE
176 reviews for:
Das glücklichste Volk: sieben Jahre bei den Pirahã-Indianern am Amazonas
Daniel L. Everett
3.8 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
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 kept thinking, "Aha! This must be an important detail foreshadowing the outcome of the story! I'll have to remember it!" And then it turned out to be nothing.) As you can read in other reviews, arguments are often not clearly described or structured. There were problems with the evidence chosen to support assertions (if, indeed, evidence is given at all.)
To throw in my own example, the author never misses the chance to tell us that the river is full of dangerous critters, yet despite the fact that he and the Pirahã spend half their time on or in the river, nobody ever gets hurt by anything. Just lucky, I guess? (Tragically, plenty of people are sickened or killed by infectious diseases, or by violence.)
Also, I think he gives short shrift to Pirahã women. He doesn't denigrate them, and does mention a few times how they gather food, how they interact the very small children, and how they were less self-conscious about sharing certain aspects of the language with him, but he mostly writes about talking to men, most frequently referring to his "good language teacher[s]" who are both men. I can understand that there may be cultural reasons why it would be harder for him to learn from or spend time with the women—but he doesn't discuss these reasons, which I thought was a striking absence in modern social-science writing.
Nonetheless, his description of the Pirahã culture is absorbing. I was especially interested in their cosmology (seeing the Universe as a series of layers, with the ground of one world being the sky of the next one down) and their epistemology. They put stock only in eye-witness accounts—or, at best, someone who reports another person's eye-witness account. Yet, they see spirits everywhere, considering a person play-acting as a spirit or the motion of a leaf caused by a spirit as literally seeing the spirit. They also regard dreams as just another part of reality, so that a report of a dream is just as valid, valuable, and truthful as a report of a hunting or fishing trip.
His narrative of how he explored the Pirahã language as a linguist was also very interesting. I fear that I do not have enough background knowledge to appreciate the subtleties of what was obviously a long-running, complex and technical debate with the Chomskian school, but I loved reading about his day-to-day process of acquiring knowledge about the language and testing his ideas by listening to and engaging in conversation.
I probably read too much science fiction, but I kept thinking that if you put the Pirahã on another planet, you'd have an excellent sci-fi yarn on your hands. The truth is stranger than fiction, as they say. To Americans, perhaps, Amazon basin might a well be another planet. But while the Pirahã are still human, their culture is so different, and their language so unlike other languages, that it is very difficult for people from of other cultures (American, Brazilian, or what have you) to relate to them.
It makes me fear that communicating in a meaningful way with a truly alien species, where we do not have anatomical, physiological, and genetic common ground, would almost certainly be impossible.
The major problems are with pacing and organization. There were strange choices about the details included and glossed over in anecdotes. (I kept thinking, "Aha! This must be an important detail foreshadowing the outcome of the story! I'll have to remember it!" And then it turned out to be nothing.) As you can read in other reviews, arguments are often not clearly described or structured. There were problems with the evidence chosen to support assertions (if, indeed, evidence is given at all.)
To throw in my own example, the author never misses the chance to tell us that the river is full of dangerous critters, yet despite the fact that he and the Pirahã spend half their time on or in the river, nobody ever gets hurt by anything. Just lucky, I guess? (Tragically, plenty of people are sickened or killed by infectious diseases, or by violence.)
Also, I think he gives short shrift to Pirahã women. He doesn't denigrate them, and does mention a few times how they gather food, how they interact the very small children, and how they were less self-conscious about sharing certain aspects of the language with him, but he mostly writes about talking to men, most frequently referring to his "good language teacher[s]" who are both men. I can understand that there may be cultural reasons why it would be harder for him to learn from or spend time with the women—but he doesn't discuss these reasons, which I thought was a striking absence in modern social-science writing.
Nonetheless, his description of the Pirahã culture is absorbing. I was especially interested in their cosmology (seeing the Universe as a series of layers, with the ground of one world being the sky of the next one down) and their epistemology. They put stock only in eye-witness accounts—or, at best, someone who reports another person's eye-witness account. Yet, they see spirits everywhere, considering a person play-acting as a spirit or the motion of a leaf caused by a spirit as literally seeing the spirit. They also regard dreams as just another part of reality, so that a report of a dream is just as valid, valuable, and truthful as a report of a hunting or fishing trip.
His narrative of how he explored the Pirahã language as a linguist was also very interesting. I fear that I do not have enough background knowledge to appreciate the subtleties of what was obviously a long-running, complex and technical debate with the Chomskian school, but I loved reading about his day-to-day process of acquiring knowledge about the language and testing his ideas by listening to and engaging in conversation.
I probably read too much science fiction, but I kept thinking that if you put the Pirahã on another planet, you'd have an excellent sci-fi yarn on your hands. The truth is stranger than fiction, as they say. To Americans, perhaps, Amazon basin might a well be another planet. But while the Pirahã are still human, their culture is so different, and their language so unlike other languages, that it is very difficult for people from of other cultures (American, Brazilian, or what have you) to relate to them.
It makes me fear that communicating in a meaningful way with a truly alien species, where we do not have anatomical, physiological, and genetic common ground, would almost certainly be impossible.
What surprised me about this book was its focus on linguistics, which shouldn’t have been surprising based on the cover and bio. It was referred to me in a conversation about faith, so I expected to read more about Everett’s faith journey. Still, it’s an important piece of his story that need not be overlooked. If you’re interested in other cultures, linguistics, and how they shape humanity, you’ll definitely enjoy the read. Words matter and shape the way we think, act, and feel - essentially, how we engage the world and live our lives. This book drives that point home.
Well written and educational. I used this book when writing about the Piraha language in my degree; very interesting read for anyone.
adventurous
funny
informative
slow-paced
Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes is the memoir of a linguist and missionary who went to Brazil to convert a tribe of Native Americans called the Pirahas, intending to convert them, and had his life changed.
Don't Sleep, There are Snakes started out slowly, got interesting for awhile when Everett talked about the Pirahas' lifestyle and his questions and thoughts on their language and ways of living, among other things. I was especially curious about why he would stop believing in Christianity, considering most Christians I know are very firm in their belief in Jesus.
Everett focused a lot on the Pirahas' language, which was a bit overwhelming for me. I was hoping he'd focus more on their way of life and the impact it had on him in general and a little less on the language. I was curious about their parenting styles, relationships, religious views, and what they thought about the Christian missionaries who wanted to convert them.
Don't Sleep, There are Snakes started out slowly, got interesting for awhile when Everett talked about the Pirahas' lifestyle and his questions and thoughts on their language and ways of living, among other things. I was especially curious about why he would stop believing in Christianity, considering most Christians I know are very firm in their belief in Jesus.
Everett focused a lot on the Pirahas' language, which was a bit overwhelming for me. I was hoping he'd focus more on their way of life and the impact it had on him in general and a little less on the language. I was curious about their parenting styles, relationships, religious views, and what they thought about the Christian missionaries who wanted to convert them.
If you really like linguistics, I think you may appreciate this book more. I enjoyed the book, but some of the discussion of linguistics was, honestly, over my head and a little tedious.
Absolutely fascinating book. I dinged it a star because the writing is meh through the first section and because his anthropological analysis is often inconsistent with the information he's relating (which sounds bad, but it's not hard to draw your own conclusions from the information). Although there are some weak points in his linguistic section, his arguments are generally persuasive and definitely interesting, especially as they relate to recursion.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in the intersection of anthropology and linguistics or who just wants to read about a culture significantly different from their own.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in the intersection of anthropology and linguistics or who just wants to read about a culture significantly different from their own.
This book is heavy on linguistics, which is interesting to a point, but I definitely skimmed through some of it. Not much on his "conversion" (or de-conversion) experience, as promised in the description. The author talks a lot about how humble he is, but he really comes off as somewhat of a DB. Pretty good quick read that gives you a lot to think about, though, if you're interested in the connection between language and culture.
The writing is a little rough sometimes, but the stories of life among the Pirahã and descriptions of their language were fascinating and eye-opening.