Can you recommend some good Anthropology books?

Question

I'm looking to study Anthropology at Cambridge and obviously need to read up around the subject, what books would you recommend?

Origin of Species obviously, but some others would be good!

Thanks

Answer 1

the past is a foreign country, can't remember the author but it is a basic text so worth reading.

Answer 2

Watching the English by Kate Fox

Answer 3

Levi-Strauss, Evans Pritchard, and Growing up in New Guinea by Margaret Mead....but it's a waste of time careerwise.  Do economics and business studies instead.

Answer 4

Geertz, Faber, Evans-Pritchard.

Answer 5

These books were on my 1st year Uni reading list:

Biological Anth:

Jared Diamond's books are great he's written 'the third chimpanzee' and 'guns germs and steel', which were on my anth course.

Chris Stringer's books are very good.

Social Anth:

The Forest people. - about the Mbutu pygmi's in the African rainforest

'Getting to know Wai Wai' , about an Amazonian tribe.

Answer 6

Anything by Stephen J Gould.  I majored in Anthropology and was going to go to grad school, but my advisor told me there was no future in the profession, so I became a chiropractor.  We will see if I made the right choice.

Answer 7

Like other reviewers have said, anthropology is amazing and fascinating but there is no future in it for careers.  I have decided to double major in anthro and nursing for that reason and because I will need to eat after I graduate!  

Read about it, read all you want, take some anthro courses and enjoy yourself, but I wouldn't recommend majoring in it.

Here are some books I read last semester and found interesting:

Nisa: (about the !Kung tribe in Africa)

Veiled Sentiments (about a middle eastern Bedouin group)

Also one called A Primate's Memoir.  It's not particularly anthropology, but it has anthro aspects to it and it's a great fun read.

Answer 8

That really depends on what concentration you're looking at...with cultural or applied I would definitely read Expectations of Modernity.

Answer 9

I could, but your one of these private people, and so I block you.

Answer 10

the prehistory of s*x by Tim L Taylor

£6.99 play.com

Answer 11

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=A...

Answer 12

Here are some good introduction books which talk about the main anthropologists and the history of anthropology:

Anthropology and Anthropologists by Adam Kuper

There's a series called 'A Very Short Introduction' which is brilliant and they do a 'cultural and social anthropology' one

Works and Lives by Clifford Geertz

And here are some books which are considered 'classics' which are really interesting and will probably come up on any anthropology course:

Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande by Evans Pritchard, also a book called The Nuer by the same man

Argonauts of the Western Pacific by Malinowski

The Gift by Marcel Mauss

But if you only read 2 of those books go for Kuper and the oracles one by Evans Pritchard, they're really interesting and easy to read. I'm in my final year of my anthropology degree and I love it, good luck for going off to uni!

Answer 13

Michael Denton's "evolution: a theory in crisis".

publisher Adler & Adler

Michael Denton is an Australian molecular biologist and medical doctor.

Very good section on understanding typology (intra-type and inter-type).  Interesting points on continuity.

Very easy to read. Wide range of subject matter.

QH371.D46 1986 575 85-13556

ISBN 0-917561-05-8 (cl)

ISBN 0-917561-52-X (pbk)