They always had everything they needed, and life was more or less grand, hence the smiles and laughter.

It is a novel about a child from an undiscovered tribe in Brazil who is adopted by a Brit and grows up in England. For example, he characterized them as "peaceful" right before mentioning the rape of a young woman by "most" of the men in the village.

Everett gives a wonderful sense of life among the tribe, and of those great little moments which show exactly how similar and how different we all are: from the time the men killed the anaconda for the sole purpose of leaving it in the river where the women bathed and scaring them, to the time the tribe kills a baby Everett's family was trying to save because its mother had died and it "wanted to die" too. The main idea is that the Piraha only talk about something that they have experienced first hand, or that someone else they know experienced first hand. Maybe there had been something there that I just missed seeing, but they insisted that what they were seeing, Xigagaí, was still there. Unfortunaltly thought, I feel like this dissmisal of ideas could be a main thing holding linguistics back. What I can say is that I personally found this book a fascinating window into the language and wider culture of the Pirahã.

If we could just try harder, I once thought, surely we could each see the world as others see it and learn to respect one another’s views more readily.One night, Everett awakened to the drunken conversation of angry Piraha, who were plotting the murder of him and his family. I will only accept criticism to Everett's work on this topic by someone who is also fluent in Pirahã, otherwise it's just empty words. You can see where the failure to persuade them of the benefits of organised religion is going to come. They were less pleasant to be around when traders brought them rum, and every man, woman, and child became blind drunk.