From the free book table outside the university's English department.

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Daniel Everett went to the Amazon in 1977 as a missionary, intending to learn the language of the Pirahã tribe in order to translate the Bible for them. But instead the language and its cultural expression absorbed him, and rather than him converting the Pirahã, they (inadvertently) converted him.

I'm not sure that I'm convinced that his discoveries completely discredit Chomsky's Universal Grammar as he claims, nor that the culture-grammar causality necessarily flows in the direction he assumes, but there's certainly a lot to be learnt from Pirahã and its seemingly unique characteristics. I'd like to read more about it, and the logic he has used to reach his conclusions (pity he doesn't include a bibliography).

Still, a really interesting book, if a bit disjointed at times (it veers between memoir, travelogue, and scientific treatise without fully achieving any of them).

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Happy bookcrossing to the finder!

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P.S. If you live in the Christchurch area, you might like to join us at our monthly bookcrossing meetups. For details, see the BCNZ Yahoo Group.