# Suggestions for Social Science Books (specifically anthropology) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-social-science-books-specifically-anthropology/255922 "2004-07-20T01:32:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-social-science-books-specifically-anthropology/255922/1 "2004-07-20T01:32:27Z")
Over the weekend, I found Jared Diamond’s “The 3rd Chimpanzee” at a local Goodwill store for $1.99 and since I **loved** “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, I snatched it up. After reading most of it over the past two days, I’ve become even more of a fan of his work as his work is engrossing but not so technical that I, as a layman, can’t understand it. As far as I know, these are his only two books though. Can anyone give some suggestions on books and authors similar to Diamond and his work? ---
**Author:** ![eponymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e0b2c6/32.png) [@eponymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eponymous)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-social-science-books-specifically-anthropology/255922/2 "2004-07-20T01:39:41Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Can anyone give some suggestions on books and authors similar to Diamond and his work? In the realm of anthropology for the layman, try the following from Marvin Harris: Our Kind : Who We Are, Where We Came From, Where We Are Going Cows, Pigs, Wars & Witches: The Riddles of Culture Cannibals and Kings: The Origins of Cultures ---
**Author:** ![finette6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@finette6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/finette6)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-social-science-books-specifically-anthropology/255922/3 "2004-07-20T03:36:39Z")
_Patterns of Culture_ by Ruth Benedict- basically three studies of more or less ‘primitive’ cultures (isolated in one way or another from modern world society). Incredibly readable, it bowled me over when I read it a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-social-science-books-specifically-anthropology/255922/4 "2004-07-20T03:41:18Z")
“Sociological Insight” by Randall Collins. The chapter on crime is worth the price of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-social-science-books-specifically-anthropology/255922/5 "2004-07-20T03:53:28Z")
Brian Fagan is probably the leading author of popular books on anthropology and archaeology still working today. Amazon won’t let you link to a search page, so here are some of his titles: Floods, Famines, and Emperors : El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850 In the Beginning: An Introduction to Archaeology (10th Edition) Before California: An Archaeologist Looks at Our Earliest Inhabitants People of the Earth: An Introduction to World Prehistory with CD (10th Edition) From Black Land to Fifth Sun: The Science of Sacred Sites The Seventy Great Mysteries of the Ancient World: Unlocking the Secrets of Past Civilizations TIME DETECTIVES: How Archaeologist Use Technology to Recapture the Past and about a zillion others. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggestions-for-social-science-books-specifically-anthropology/255922/6 "2004-07-20T13:20:56Z")
I took Intro to Archaeology (or somesuch) from Brian Fagan at UCSB a quarter of a century (+) ago. /OT I recommend “Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language” by Robin Dunbar.