Changes

|title=Language: The Cultural Tool

|author=Daniel Everett

|publisher=Profile Books

|date=March 2012

|website=http://daneverettbooks.com/

|summary=A new take on the development of language, this turns [[:Category:Noam Chomsky|Chomsky's]] theories on their heads. Much easier to read than you might expect, with great travel anecdotes too.

}}

Daniel Everett previously worked as a missionary in far flung corners of the world– a fact that isn’t surprising given the number of references to faith that crop up over the pages. This new book, however, is about two much more appealing (to me) subjects: language and travel. If [[:Category:Bill Bryson|Bill Bryson]] is a travel writer with an interest in linguistics, then Daniel Everett is a linguist with an interest in travel. It’s not quite the ‘read it by a pool’ sort of book that Bryson might release but is somewhere between a formalised every day read and a text book with a big dollop of informality stirred in. The travel stories – jaunts to Brazil, Mexico and beyond – are great, and while you might think they’re taking things a bit off track (albeit in a rather pleasant way) sooner or later the linguistic point will become clear.