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joywilson 's review for:
Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle
by Daniel L. Everett
I saw this author speak at a convention in Seattle a couple weeks ago and was so fascinated with his lecture that I immediately downloaded the book on my Kindle before I even left the building. Who would have thought that a linguist's study of a remote Amazonian village's language would be such a page turner?! In my first sit-down with the book today, I whizzed through a 1/4 it.
Jan. 15, 2010 update:
I finished the book. It was captivating in the beginning half, but was punctuated by a mid-section that was pretty heavy in linguist lingo. I got lost and bored in some of the language technicalities, but the last chapter brought it back around to the fascinating cultural/social/spiritual aspects of the language and people. I wish the author would have expanded the final chapter, or better yet, spent the bulk of the book on that section. It's a major thing for a Christian missionary to spend years in the jungle trying to save/convert the villagers and in the end come out converted by those very people and find himself an atheist. That's an astounding finish, I'm surprised that this heavy summation was merely a single chapter. Either way, a very interesting book despite the bland mid-section.
Jan. 15, 2010 update:
I finished the book. It was captivating in the beginning half, but was punctuated by a mid-section that was pretty heavy in linguist lingo. I got lost and bored in some of the language technicalities, but the last chapter brought it back around to the fascinating cultural/social/spiritual aspects of the language and people. I wish the author would have expanded the final chapter, or better yet, spent the bulk of the book on that section. It's a major thing for a Christian missionary to spend years in the jungle trying to save/convert the villagers and in the end come out converted by those very people and find himself an atheist. That's an astounding finish, I'm surprised that this heavy summation was merely a single chapter. Either way, a very interesting book despite the bland mid-section.