This book is about the lessons I have learned over three decades of studying and living with the Pirahas, a time in which I have tried my best to comprehend how they see, understand, and talk about the world and to transmit these lessons to my scientific colleagues. I was also unaware of how heated linguistics debates can get between two linguists with differeing ideas. Rarely have I heard the village completely quiet at night or noticed someone sleeping for several hours straight. Parents were not paranoid protectionists — kids were free to burn themselves in the fire, or cut themselves with sharp knives, in the pursuit of higher learning. While most anthropologists would consider this a significant event, Everett refers to it in parentheses.

This was something that had been hypothesized by linguist Noam Chomsky, and when Everett publicized this, the finding rocked the world of philology. He also talks about the fact that he and his wife are divorced, but doesn't share the factors that led to that, either.Everett went to the Pirahas as a linguist, to study what he believed to be a language isolate (one that is “not demonstrably related to any living language”), and as a missionary. On top of everything else Everett describes them as having a “very conservative” culture, in the sense of being unwilling to consider innovation. The frequent incidents in which the men become violent and aggressive after obtaining alcohol from traders and the women and children flee the village to spend the night hiding in the forest is reported more as it inconveniences Everett and his family.

This book is controversial and interesting in several ways, whether you're a linguist or not, religious or not. Now, if that still sounds off-putting, the theories on language development don't get in the way of Everett's many adventures with the Pirahas. For example they might say, “Blood is dirty” when referring to black or “it is transparent” when referring to white. Everett is initially shocked at how indifferent the Pirahas seem when his wife and daughter are dangerously ill, shouting after him to bring supplies when he sets off on a nightmare trip to find medical help. Therefore, when Everett states this: But violence against anyone, children or adults, is unacceptable to the Pirahas.If he is sincere in his desire to preserve this indigenous culture, is he wise to uproot two of its members and expose them to this foreign city, just so that he can continue to study their language?

It was still around seventy- two degrees, though humid, far below the hundred- degree- plus heat of midday. Everett’s heroic efforts were vexed by the fact that no other language on Earth bore the slightest resemblance to Pirahã. I would go so far as to suggest that the Pirahãs are happier, fitter, and better adjusted to their environment than any Christian or other religious person I have ever known.Even though the author, Everett, is a linguist and even though he makes reference to linguistic concepts throughout this section, he's writing for a general audience, so anyone should be able to follow this section just fine. The difference between English and Pirahã is that what English does with a sentence, Pirahã does with a verbal suffix. Instead, what he found in the jungle and what he learned from the the Piraha ended up challenging everything he believed in. Ughhh I mentioned this book in my thesis proposal today and one of the committee members (linguistics professor) said to not take Everett's claims too seriously. Everett pleads with the captain of the boat they’ve hitched a lift on, to hurry to the port where they can get to hospital.