Don't sleep, there are snakes
by Daniel Leonard Everett · first published 2008
81% recommend19% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Entertaining account of a missionary-turned-linguist living with the Pirahã in the Amazon, blending travel memoir with accessible language material. Suits readers curious about recursion debates and cultural difference.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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
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…automatically; you have to go out and start new enterprises, invent new technologies, etc. Some cultures are simply incapable of this and will eventually die out; if you want an extreme example go read "Don't Sleep, There are Snakes" by Daniel Everett.
on “The Rise of Men Who Don’t Work – And What They Do Instead” ↗Anyone interested in the Pirahã should read 'Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle' by Daniel Everett ( http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Sleep-There-Are-Snakes/dp/0307386... ) There's quite a bit about the language, but the backstory of Daniel going…
on “What happens when a language has no numbers?” ↗> the feud between Noam Chomsky and Daniel Everett "Don't sleep, there are snakes" which recounts the experience of Everett among the Pirahas people is a fantastic book.
on “Grammar isn't merely part of language (2016)” ↗As a contrast to 'The Language Instinct' I would highly recommend 'Don't Sleep There are Snakes' by linguist Daniel Everett, which follows his time living with a remote tribe in the Amazon and learning their language. A very nice introduction of the idea of recursion in linguistics, and a rebuttal…
on “Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?” ↗It doesn't inspire confidence that the German examples in that response are all wrong. But I can recommend Everett's book "Don't sleep, there are snakes", which is only partly about language.
on “Talking is throwing fictional worlds at one another” ↗…in the June 2009 issue of the Journal of the Linguistic Society of America, Language. Chomsky and Pesetsky may not be the most objective critics, though. I read Everett's popular book on the Pirahã, "Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes", and found his descriptions believable, but I'm definitely not a professional linguist. There's a nice interview with Everett in https://www.edge.org/conversation/daniel_l_everett-recursion... which…
on “Languages That Could Change the Way You See the World (2015)” ↗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…
on “37% of the world’s population have still never used the internet” ↗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…
on “The Origin of Consciousness (2008)” ↗…enough to have been discussed by scientists. - Godel, Escher, Bach: an eternal braid - Douglas R. Hofstadter - The Emperor's New Mind - Roger Penrose - The Embodied Mind - Varela, Thompson & Rosch - Don't sleep, there are snakes - Daniel Everett
on “In Retrospect: The Selfish Gene” ↗…New Yorker about them: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/04/16/the-interprete... Dan Everett, the subject of the New Yorker's article, wrote a book about his experiences with the Pirahã called Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes which is excellent. It's one of my absolute favourite books ever.
on “New species of ancient human discovered in the Philippines: Homo luzonensis” ↗The book "Don't sleep there are snakes" by Everett is still a very entertaining read! I highly recommend it.
on “The Pirahã Are Off by One (2020)” ↗The society itself; the Wikipedia article only glancing mentions this aspect of society. "Don't sleep, there are snakes" is worth a read.
on “'World's oldest calendar' discovered in Scottish field” ↗His book "Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes" is worth a read too (though a more ruthless editor may have helped even it out).
on “Brazil's Pirahã Tribe: Living Without Numbers or Time (2006)” ↗If you enjoy this article you may like the Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle.
on “Has a remote Amazonian tribe upended our understanding of language? (2007)” ↗Regardless of the discussion here, the biographical part of "don't sleep, there are snakes" is a rather good read. I was only 19 then, but I remember liking it a lot.
on “Has a remote Amazonian tribe upended our understanding of language? (2007)” ↗