# Can anyone recommend some good books on Anthropology? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2006, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-books-on-anthropology/363222 "2006-07-05T00:17:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Webner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/0ea827/32.png) [@Webner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Webner)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-books-on-anthropology/363222/1 "2006-07-05T00:17:32Z")
Im looking for a good book about anthropology, like Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. It could biological or cultural. Anyone have some favorites to recommend? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-books-on-anthropology/363222/2 "2006-07-05T01:11:02Z")
_Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond_ is a \*\*\*good \*\*\* book on anthropology? :eek: \ ***Yes** , \* it is! šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-books-on-anthropology/363222/3 "2006-07-05T01:44:52Z")
Iā€™ve enjoyed Marvin Harrisā€™s books - **Wars Pigs Cows & Witches** comes to mind, and **Our Kind**. How his work is currently regarded, I donā€™t know, Iā€™m ashamed to say. I have also enjoyed Sarah Hrdy (thatā€™s not a typo). Elaine Morgan, although I donā€™t think she is an actual anthropologist. (I was interested in human evolution pertaining to womenā€™s sexuality.) Pop anth: I loves me some [Margaret Visser](http://www.margaretvisser.com/) . Are you interested in physical anthropology? Cultural? ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-books-on-anthropology/363222/4 "2006-07-05T01:46:12Z")
Oops, a re-read indicates cultural. Humans are some interesting creatures indeed. If you see a book called ā€œThe Anthroplogy of Eatingā€, that was fascinating to me. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-books-on-anthropology/363222/5 "2006-07-05T20:23:09Z")
Iā€™m a big fan of Harrisā€™, too. Heā€™s abn excellent popularizer. What some pweople wonā€™t like is that he espouses his own theory of anthropology ā€“ Cultural Materialism ā€“ thatā€™s radically different from others, such as the Structuralism of Claude Levi-Strauss. I like CM, so I recommend his stuff. Besides the aforementioned **Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches** and \*\* Our Kind\*\*, try **Good to Eat** (aka **The Sacred Cow and the Abopminable Pig** , **Cannibals and Kings** and, if you want to get serious **Cultural Materialisdm**. Older stuff regarded as classic is Ruth Benedictā€™s **Patterns of Culture** Bernard Malinowskiā€™s books. Margaret Meadā€™s books, especially **Coming of Age in Samoa** were good reads, but I understand thereā€™s been a serious challenge to her accuiracy in that one. ---
**Author:** ![Joools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6de8d8/32.png) [@Joools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joools)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-books-on-anthropology/363222/6 "2006-07-06T03:28:27Z")
Ditto the Marvin Harris. Iā€™d recommend starting with **Our Kind** , if only because it touches on so many different topics. Some of the classic Anthropology 101 books make for some great reading. Try: [ul] [li] Lucy, by Donald Johansen, for your physical anthropology fix[/li][li] The Yanomamo, by Napoleon Chagnon[/li][li] The Forest People, by Colin Turnbill[/li][li] The Mountain People, Colin Turnbill[/li][/ul] With a warning that some of these books are riveting but not exactly uplifting. If you get through those and want something meatier, Roy Rappaportā€™s **Pigs for the Ancestors** is great ā€“ kind of a bridge between Marvin Harrisā€™s theories and Cultural Ecology thatā€™s more in vogue. I canā€™t think of recommendations for linguistics or archaeology off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-books-on-anthropology/363222/7 "2006-07-06T09:51:13Z")
[_The Serpent and the Rainbow_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684839296/sr=8-2/qid=1152179064/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-1671603-6682206?ie=UTF8) by Wade Davis is an excellent book and has almost _ **NOTHING** _ to do with the film. [NPR did several interviews with him](http://www.npr.org/search.php?text=%22wade+Davis%22) that are fascinating to listen to. Heā€™s spent years studying voodoo, shamen, and pharmacutical plants all over the world. (He described one drugā€™s effects like being shot out the barrel of a cannon lined with baroque paintings.) ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-books-on-anthropology/363222/8 "2006-07-06T14:28:52Z")
Peter Freuchenā€™s Book of the Eskimos I honestly donā€™t know how good it is compared to other books, but it is just about the only anthropology book I can name off hand. And somebody has to mention Campbell(sp?)'s Hero of 1000 faces. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-recommend-some-good-books-on-anthropology/363222/9 "2006-07-06T14:47:33Z")
[QUOTE=N9IWP] And somebody has to mention Campbell(sp?)'s Hero of 1000 faces. [/QUOTE] If only to tell people to avoid it. Well, itā€™s entertaining, in a ā€œboy he pulls that all together in a neat way that sounds convincing if you donā€™t really know all that much about the stories,ā€ but if you are looking for scholarship, go elsewhere.