Customer Reviews:
 Excellent overview for stundents and general public October 23, 2009
Guy P. Harrison (Earth)
I love this book! As a serious life-long student of anthropology I was familiar with most of the content, but this well-written and gentle survey of the wonderful and important world of anthropology was a great ride, nonetheless. While prospective and new anthropology students will find much of interest, I'm confident just about anyone else would find this work fascinating and relevant too. There is so much here and it flies by with ease so no one should fear either boredom or cerebral stress. Many people don't seem to realize how broad the field of anthropology is. Explore this book to find out: from linguistics, to archaeology; from "race" to religion; from Homo erectus to farming, it's all here. And none of it is stale or monotonous. For example, there is even a cool section on anthropologically themed books and films. I also loved "Ten Things to Remember About Anthropology". That chapter alone is worth the price of admission.
The best endorsement I can offer is this: I will be giving away a few copies to friends this Christmas. I think a book like this can be especially powerful with young people. The authors will never know, but I am sure that many careers in anthropology will be inspired by this fun and enlightening book.
--Guy P. Harrison, author of
Race and Reality: What Everyone Should Know about Our Biological Diversity
and
50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God
 Lifesaver November 23, 2008
Kathryn Protzko (NYC)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
this was a great buy, probably the best book for the layman intrigued in Anthopology. However, having a BA in anthropology and I found this was absent, considerable points in anthropology . I used this book in the early intoduction classes of anthropology in the past and i ended up having to write all over the margins because there was much not included such as mentioning pre history (the time before written history ) although, you do get what you pay for. this book was though, like i said, a lifesaver of both grades, time and energy. i highly reccomend this to an undergratuate studying anthropology or archaeology.
Great for a passing interest or more advanced studies August 24, 2008
Michael Carpenter (Virginia, MN United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I'm a junior with an anthropology major, so I'm not exactly the highest source when it comes to recommending anthropology books, but as a general reader and someone with an interest in anthropology, I can say that this is one of the best general study books on anthropology that I've read. There are clear explanations for each of the four subfields of anthropology, which are biological (or physical) anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology. While obviously not a comprehensive study of any of the subfields (it is, after all, a For Dummies book), it provides a good amount of information on these subjects without becoming too convoluted.I felt that some of the information on biological anthropology can get a bit exhausting, such as with dates and fossil names, but that may just be because I've never been great at memorizing dates and whatnot.
I feel that there is something for everyone in this book. Even if you're not an anthropology student, there are still topics in this book, such as the origin of language, tool-making, and culture in general, that anyone who is interested in other fellow human beings (i.e, everyone) will find relevant and useful.
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