Anthropology Books - Page 11

Italianissimo: The Quintessential Guide to What Italians Do Best

Louise Fili, Lise Apatoff

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

What is it about Italy that inspires passion, fascination, and utter devotion? This quirky guide to the Italian way of life, with its fifty witty mini-essays on iconic Italian subjects, will answer that question as well as entertain and delight both real and armchair travelers. Topics range from expressive hand gestures to patron saints, pasta, parmesan, shoes, opera, the Vespa, the Fiat 500, gelato, gondolas, and more. History, folklore, superstitions, traditions, and customs are tossed in a delicious sauce that also includes a wealth of factual information for the sophisticated traveler:• why lines, as we know them, are nonexistent in Italy• why a string of coral beads is often seen around a baby’s wrist• what the unlucky number of Italy is (it’s not thirteen, unless seating guests at a table, when it IS thirteen–taking into account the outcome of the Last Supper)• why red underwear begins to appear in shops as the New Year approaches In addition to the lyrical and poetic, Italianissimo provides useful and indispensable information for the traveler: deciphering the quirks of the language (while English has only one word for “you,” in Italy there are three), the best place to find balsamic vinegar (in Modena, of course), the best gelato (in Sicily, where they first invented it using the snow from Mount Etna). There are also recommendations for little-known museums and destinations (the Bodoni museum, the Pinocchio park, legendary coffee bars).This is a new kind of guidebook overflowing with enlightening and hilarious miscellaneous information, filled with luscious graphics and unforgettable photographs that will decode and enrich all trips to Italy–both real and imaginary.

Crowds and Power

Elias Canetti

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 12 people found this review helpful.

It requires a deeply individual experience to understand 'Crowds and Power'. According to Canetti, The concept of crowd is ontologically prior to Man; a crowd is not just a bunch of people. In one of the most illuminating books ever written, Canetti takes one through two of the most important traits that have shaped Man's destiny on this planet - the formation of crowds and the facet of power. This is not a book about crowds. Its about Man. What emerges is no mere dry academic treatise, but an absolutely fascinating journey through topics such as the rain dances of the Pueblo Indians, the finger exercises of monkeys, and the hallucinations of alcoholics.

The kaliedoscopic journey for the reader includes a vast range of topics from Australian aborigines,pueblo indians, jivaro indians, etruscans to ants, monkeys, kangaroos to Islam, Christianity, Judaism. This is anthropology at its best. The study psychology of crowds in human history: crowd behaviour, crowd symbols, types of crowds, crowd mentalities; the individual vs the crowd, the crowd in contemporary history; there are anecdotes about everything from primitive tribal cultures, ancient African rulers, modern European history etc... For example, in describing the psychology of mass fear as it relates to its twin, the desire to out-survive others, he cites unexpected examples: burial customs in rural India in which a strenuous attempt is made to appease the spirit of the child if it dies a preventable death; the peculiar madness of Roman emperors; and the Viking warriors' tradition of piling up a mound of stones before going into battle.

Canetti defines crowd as a cumulation of small units into a large ensemble, causing it to become something entirely different from the units that make it up. He sees nature as the teacher that taught man to behave as a crowd, as a liquid. For example, for the Germans, it is the forest with its innumerable trees, standing vertically, that has inspired the German soul since time primordial in its aspiration to become a marching liquid. For the Arabs, it is the sand of the desert. For the Dutch, it is the threatening sea itself. For the Mongols, the horse.

Secrets of Antigravity Propulsion: Tesla, UFOs, and Classified Aerospace Technology

Paul A. LaViolette

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A complete investigation of the development and suppression of antigravity and field propulsion technologies

• Reveals advanced aerospace technologies capable of controlling gravity that could revolutionize air travel and energy production

• Reviews numerous field propulsion devices that have thrust-to-power ratios thousands of times greater than a jet engine

• Shows how NASA participates in a cover-up to block adoption of advanced technologies under military development

In Secrets of Antigravity Propulsion, physicist Paul LaViolette reveals the secret history of antigravity experimentation--from Nikola Tesla and T. Townsend Brown to the B-2 Advanced Technology Bomber. He discloses the existence of advanced gravity-control technologies, under secret military development for decades, that could revolutionize air travel and energy production. Included among the secret projects he reveals is the research of Project Skyvault to develop an aerospace propulsion system using intense beams of microwave energy similar to that used by the strange crafts seen flying over Area 51.

Using subquantum kinetics--the science behind antigravity technology--LaViolette reviews numerous field-propulsion devices and technologies that have thrust-to-power ratios thousands of times greater than that of a jet engine and whose effects are not explained by conventional physics and relativity theory. He then presents controversial evidence about the NASA cover-up in adopting these advanced technologies. He also details ongoing Russian research to duplicate John Searl’s self-propelled levitating disc and shows how the results of the Podkletnov gravity beam experiment could be harnessed to produce an interstellar spacecraft.

Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters

Matt Ridley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 183 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great Read, Interesting Primer on Our Genes 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a wonderful read as: science, non-fiction generally, and as a primer on our genes, what they do, and how they work. I find Ridley to be one of the best science writers for the general public and this book is no exception.

Ridley leads us on an interesting and informative tour of some of the aspects of our genes. He touches on the junk DNA, mechanisms for changes in the chromosomes, how genes express them selves in proteins and the phenotype, some genetic diseases (he opines how we know most genes by the diseases that result from their malfunction and reiterates that genes are not for diseases), some of the latest ideas on how our chromosomes came to the shape they are in, and the role of RNA, among many other things. RNA is rapidly rising up as the candidate for the "original replicator" (at least for the world of nucleic acid replicators, maybe there was something before that does not survive) since it can and does act in many different roles throughout the cell including as genetic replicating code (apart from DNA) and catalysis like proteins. His discussion of junk DNA and sequence repetitions and how they occur in some cases was fascinating. His discussions of how certain gene sequences were actually discovered by scientists was too.

I would note that the discoveries of modern genetics are consonant with the "Selfish Gene" view of evolution. They are not explicable by other proposed levels of evolutionary selection nor are they explicable by design (though an ad hoc application of magic certainly can give a superficial and false "explanation" for just about anything.)

Ridley does let his political/social ideas come through fairly strongly in a few places (only a few places.) My recommendation is simply to take them for what they are: one man's opinion. They didn't detract from the book at all for me. One's political stance does not imply anything about the data you present.

This is not an exhaustive map or discussion of our genes. Such a book would be huge and probably not readable. This is an overview with some interesting details and side trips. I strongly recommend it to you.

I also recommend: Ridley's The Origins of Virtue, Dawkins' The Selfish Gene and The Ancestor's Tale, Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish, Zimmer's Parasite Rex, Nesse and Williams' Why We Get Sick, and Diamond's The Third Chimpanzee

This Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation

Barbara Ehrenreich

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Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

What would Ehrenreich do if the 'rich' opted out 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Why is it that I always get the sneaking suspicion that when Robin Hoods like Ehrenreich talk about the 'rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer' she has in mind a great big tax increase? What would happen if all those nasty rich people just opted out and took their compensation off-shore, in the form of long term share grants? I am not an uncritical fan of Ayn Rand, nor do I consider myself 'rich' - but gosh, when I keep reading about the nasty rich people (read: sucessful risk takers who already pay virtually all of the taxes in this country), I can't help but ask - Who is John Galt? You're poor and want to improve your situation? I would suggest that you get an education, put off having children until you can afford them, live within your means and save your money. Apparently that is too simple and smells of a Protestant work ethic. Gotta find those scapegoats.

Editorial Review:

America in the 'aughts---hilariously skewered, brilliantly dissected, and darkly diagnosed by the bestselling social critic hailed as "the soul mate" of Jonathan Swift.

The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey

Spencer Wells

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Total reviews: 57 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Loved it! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I absolutely loved this book! I think the Genographic Project is amazing. Sadly I wish more people could accept Evolution. It's just hard for some to break away from indoctrination.

Editorial Review:

Around 60,000 years ago, a man—genetically identical to us—lived in Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did this real-life Adam wind up as the father of us all? What happened to the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? And why, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do we come in so many sizes, shapes, and races?

Examining the hidden secrets of human evolution in our genetic code, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the revolutionary science of population genetics have made it possible to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. Replete with marvelous anecdotes and remarkable information, from the truth about the real Adam and Eve to the way differing racial types emerged, The Journey of Man is an enthralling, epic tour through the history and development of early humankind.

Mythologies

ROLAND BARTHES

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Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A must for old-school Marxists and modern rhetoricians 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

In Mythologies, Barthes offers a series of snapshots with titles such as "Plastic," "Striptease," "Toys," "The World of Wrestling," and "Operation Margarine." His aim is to reveal the ideological abuse hidden in these myths, which are manufactured to read as reality.

Though complex, Barthes essays are accessible, charming, and funny. I have taught Mythologies to first-year college students, because it does not require its reader to have read volumes of theory to engage in Barthes' clever reflections.

My favorite essay might be "Toys," which demystifies modern (1954-56) French toys as designed to produce consumers ("users") rather than creators. "Toys" exemplifies how, 50 years later, Barthes' myths are still alive and worth reading.

Entertaining essays, dense critical theory 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I was assigned this text as the final leg of a Greek and Roman Mythology course. Having no idea what to expect, I easily read through the collection of short essays and was thoroughly entertained. Even in translation, Barthes is graceful, lighthearted, and humorous in telling of the modern myths surrounding him in 1950s France. A very well-educated philologist, lexicologist, and sociologist, it wasn't until after writing the short essays here compiled that he rigorously developed his semiological/structuralist theories. Those with knowledge of structural linguistics and semiology and those without such a background alike will certainly enjoy every essay of this brief collection.

Furthermore, the longer essay, "Myth Today," which follows the shorter essays published originally in the 50s is replete with extremely interesting, albeit dense, critical theory. While someone with little knowledge of structural linguistics or semiology will have some difficulty with this final essay, it is certainly worth the struggle.

Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline

Robert H. Bork

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Total reviews: 136 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this New York Times bestselling book, Robert H. Bork, our country's most distinguished conservative scholar, offers a prophetic and unprecedented view of a culture in decline, a nation in such serious moral trouble that its very foundation is crumbling: a nation that slouches not towards the Bethlehem envisioned by the poet Yeats in 1919, but towards Gomorrah.

Slouching Towards Gomorrah is a penetrating, devastatingly insightful exposé of a country in crisis at the end of the millennium, where the rise of modern liberalism, which stresses the dual forces of radical egalitarianism (the equality of outcomes rather than opportunities) and radical individualism (the drastic reduction of limits to personal gratification), has undermined our culture, our intellect, and our morality.

In a new Afterword, the author highlights recent disturbing trends in our laws and society, with special attention to matters of sex and censorship, race relations, and the relentless erosion of American moral values. The alarm he sounds is more sobering than ever: we can accept our fate and try to insulate ourselves from the effects of a degenerating culture, or we can choose to halt the beast, to oppose modern liberalism in every arena. The will to resist, he warns, remains our only hope.

The Mind of the Market: How Biology and Psychology Shape Our Economic Lives

Michael Shermer

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Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"[A] captivating raconteur of all the greatest hits of behavioral, evolutionary and neuropsychology . . . Fascinating."—Los Angeles Times Book Review

How did we make the leap from ancient hunter-gatherers to modern consumers, and why do people get so emotional about financial decisions? The national bestseller The Mind of the Market uncovers the evolutionary roots of our economic behavior.

Drawing on the new field of neuroeconomics, psychologist Michael Shermer investigates what brain scans reveal about bargaining, snap purchases, and establishing trust in business. He scrutinizes experiments in behavioral economics to understand why people hang on to losing stocks and why negotiations disintegrate into tit-for-tat disputes. He brings together findings from psychology and biology to describe how our tribal ancestry makes us suckers for brands, why researchers believe cooperation feels (biochemically) like sex, and how even capuchin monkeys get indignant if they don’t get a fair reward for their work.

Entertaining and eye-opening, The Mind of the Market explains the real science of economics.

Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety

Judith Warner

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Total reviews: 87 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A lively and provocative look at the modern culture of motherhood and at the social, economic, and political forces that shaped current ideas about parenting.

What is wrong with this picture? That's the question Judith Warner asks after taking a good, hard look at the world of modern motherhood-at anxious women at work and at home and in bed with unhappy husbands.

When Warner had her first child, she was living in Paris, where parents routinely left their children home, with state-subsidized nannies, to join friends in the evening for dinner or to go on dates with their husbands. When she returned to the States, she was stunned by the cultural differences she found toward parenting-in particular, assumptions about motherhood. None of the mothers she met seemed happy: Instead, they worried about the possibility of not having the perfect child, panicking as each developmental benchmark approached.

Combining close readings of mainstream magazines, TV shows, and pop culture with a thorough command of dominant ideas in recent psychological, social, and economic theory, Perfect Madness addresses our cultural assumptions, and examines the forces that have shaped them.

Working in the tradition of classics like Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique and Christopher Lasch's The Culture of Narcissism, and with an awareness of a readership that turned recent hits like The Bitch in the House and Allison Pearson's I Don't Know How She Does It into bestsellers, Warner offers a context in which to understand the way we live, as well as ways of imagining alternatives-actual concrete changes-that might better our lives.