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3 More Books to Read! Anarchism, Slavery, and Language!

Philosophy Tube | September 22, 2025



Here’s some reading recommendations for you – covering linguistics, the Pirahã people of the Amazon, history, capitalism, slavery, the British Empire, and anarchism! Books by Daniel Everett and Eric Williams!

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Recommended Reading:
“Don’t Sleep, there are Snakes” by Daniel Everett
“Changing Anarchism”
“Capitalism & Slavery” by Eric Williams http://tinyurl.com/hh8xfn3

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Comments

This post currently has 34 comments.

  13. @jenkeyte3980

    September 22, 2025 at 10:13 am

    thank you olly! your videos have reminded me why i was interested in philosophy in the first place. My course lecturers are such a drag, you really make me think! I'll be hanging around here from now on x

  16. @izzyxp6830

    September 22, 2025 at 10:13 am

    I would recommend Enough: Discovering joy Through Simplicity and Generosity by Adam Hamilton. It is a very short read, but has a very interesting view points in my opinion. Also Jim & Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation about faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians by Jim Henderson.

  17. @olivergrey3096

    September 22, 2025 at 10:13 am

    Hey!
    For the book on anarchism whats the writing like?
    I have read a few articles on the matter as well as "Anarchism " by Chomsky. I found they were kinda abstract and dense. I find the basic idea (a leaderless society or one without illegitimate authority) very interesting and before I delve into it further id like to know more about the branches and famous thinkers but I dont want to waste my time on another book that doesnt seem to engage with the reader.
    Its not so much is the book easy its more is it engaging and accessible? Thanks 🙂

  18. @imnoone5382

    September 22, 2025 at 10:13 am

    Olly, love your videos. I recently read a book by Sean Carroll titled "The Big Picture". In it he makes the case for what he calls "Poetic Naturalism". I was wondering if you were familiar with this term (it seems like an original one attributed to Carroll) or what your thoughts are on his ideas. Thanks very much.

  21. @m_b_1_2_3

    September 22, 2025 at 10:13 am

    For texts on anarchism, might be worth reading Murray Bookchin's essay "Listen, Marxist!". Not quite a case for anarchism so much as an account of the main ideological differences between State-Socialism and libertarian-/anarcho-communism. Really good reading and especially helpful given, as you mentioned, the kind of impressions people get when they hear words like "anarchism", "communism" and "socialism". Also, Bookchin was just a fantastic writer and theoretician, and pretty much everything he wrote pre-90s is stellar stuff

  29. @bobsobol

    September 22, 2025 at 10:13 am

    Top-tier salaries, plus bonus even if you make negative profit. That's what I hope they'll be shocked by Ollie. Though, Guantanamo Bay, solitary confinement, capitol punishment, rejection of asylum, circumcision, (and FGM, of course, but that's not as big a problem in the west) body shaming, gastric bands, liposuction, Botox injections, pre-school child care and maternity leave, fossil fuels (if not fusion reactors)!!! I'm reasonably certain that if civilisation hasn't collapsed to the point where we are no longer aware of these horrors in our present, and their history, they will be shocked and horrified to learn of.

    To be fair, my grand-daughters are horrified to think that, while there was "internet" there was nothing equivalent to Google or spreadsheets that I could possibly have been taught when I was at school.

    Maybe they'll be horrified that we micro-blog our entire lives for any old hacker to pick up and destroy us with. Or maybe they'll be shocked that we go to bed without a camera watching over us and monitors at the police station and home office. Maybe they'll be shocked that we incarcerate criminals rather than simply reducing their status on social networks and devaluing their adsense. ("unpersoned") Just think how expensive everything would be if it weren't discounted by ad revenue, and if you aren't valued as a consumer of ads, you'd have to be exposed to many more of them to get the discount that makes living affordable. 😉

  32. @TangkapBrookeRajah

    September 22, 2025 at 10:13 am

    Were or are? Linguistics hides as much as it enlightens.
    Capitalism is and always was a metaphor for slavery. But what is the alternatives ?
    (The unfathomable language of the esoteric but free native, maybe?)

  34. @chaosPneumatic

    September 22, 2025 at 10:13 am

    As a linguistics and anthropology student, I can add a little bit more about Daniel Everett and the Piraha that I've been able to learn through my studies. One, if anyone's curious, is the reason why Everett changed his beliefs. One of the reasons was because of the Piraha's worldview which puts heavy emphasis first-hand accounts. When Everett learned the language and began teaching the tribe about Jesus, their first question was if he knew Jesus personally. When he said no, they completely lost interest and stopped listening: "How can I believe anything you're saying about this guy if you've never even met him?" According to Everett, the Piraha don't have any deities among their beliefs, or anything supernatural other than spirits (based fully on first-hand accounts).

    On the linguistics side of things, a lot of Everett's discoveries about the language was put forward by him to challenge Noam Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar and as support for the often rejected hypothesis of Linguistic Relativity. His claims and conclusions have remained controversial to this day, and uncorroborated because he was the only non-Native fluent speaker at the time and a lot of the unique peculiarities of the language he documented are likely to be lost now because of Brazil's attempts to educate the tribe in Portuguese (thus irreversibly influencing the native language).

    I only know about the subject through lectures and study assignments and I haven't read Everett's books fully so I definitely intend to check out your recommendation!

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