Best Popular Anthropology Books on Goodreads

1.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 4.04 avg rating β€” 445,096 ratings
2.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 4.34 avg rating β€” 1,201,993 ratings
3.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed 3.93 avg rating β€” 73,877 ratings
4.
Debt: The First 5,000 Years
Debt: The First 5,000 Years 4.21 avg rating β€” 25,632 ratings
5.
Kon-Tiki
Kon-Tiki 4.16 avg rating β€” 24,592 ratings
6.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures 4.20 avg rating β€” 87,607 ratings
7.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus 4.05 avg rating β€” 93,191 ratings
8.
A Short History of Nearly Everything
A Short History of Nearly Everything 4.22 avg rating β€” 412,869 ratings
9.
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death 4.30 avg rating β€” 45,191 ratings
10.
The Power of Myth
The Power of Myth 4.26 avg rating β€” 53,109 ratings
11.
Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind
Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind 4.15 avg rating β€” 2,843 ratings
12.
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory 4.03 avg rating β€” 32,026 ratings
13.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers 4.06 avg rating β€” 234,486 ratings
14.
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon 3.90 avg rating β€” 106,843 ratings
15.
Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology
Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology 4.22 avg rating β€” 3,294 ratings
16.
Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed 4.21 avg rating β€” 6,471 ratings
17.
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State 4.13 avg rating β€” 7,494 ratings
18.
The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth
The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth 4.02 avg rating β€” 3,613 ratings
19.
The Hero With a Thousand Faces
The Hero With a Thousand Faces 4.13 avg rating β€” 44,169 ratings
19.
Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village
Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village 4.12 avg rating β€” 3,227 ratings
19.
The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future
The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future 4.18 avg rating β€” 4,165 ratings
22.
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created 4.12 avg rating β€” 20,587 ratings
23.
Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past 4.14 avg rating β€” 5,855 ratings
24.
Tristes Tropiques
Tristes Tropiques 4.14 avg rating β€” 3,983 ratings
25.
Orientalism
Orientalism 4.13 avg rating β€” 28,517 ratings
26.
Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation
Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation 3.55 avg rating β€” 3,150 ratings
27.
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 4.12 avg rating β€” 18,420 ratings
28.
The Mismeasure of Man
The Mismeasure of Man 4.05 avg rating β€” 9,212 ratings
29.
The Songlines
The Songlines 3.96 avg rating β€” 12,123 ratings
30.
In the Shadow of Man
In the Shadow of Man 4.36 avg rating β€” 8,859 ratings
31.
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge 4.18 avg rating β€” 7,318 ratings
32.
Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest
Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest 4.28 avg rating β€” 2,026 ratings
33.
Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are
Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are 4.19 avg rating β€” 4,317 ratings
34.
Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia
Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia 4.24 avg rating β€” 6,614 ratings
35.
Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow
Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow 4.19 avg rating β€” 278,930 ratings
35.
Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization
Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization 3.92 avg rating β€” 1,794 ratings
35.
Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times
Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times 4.31 avg rating β€” 2,720 ratings
35.
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity 4.19 avg rating β€” 24,329 ratings
39.
Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture
Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The Riddles of Culture 3.92 avg rating β€” 4,925 ratings
39.
Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey
Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey 3.94 avg rating β€” 3,973 ratings
41.
The Social Conquest of Earth
The Social Conquest of Earth 4.01 avg rating β€” 4,286 ratings
42.
The Origin of Species
The Origin of Species 4.01 avg rating β€” 120,197 ratings
42.
The Lost City of the Monkey God
The Lost City of the Monkey God 3.93 avg rating β€” 61,224 ratings
44.
Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found
Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found 3.75 avg rating β€” 1,811 ratings
45.
Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality
Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality 3.98 avg rating β€” 31,323 ratings
46.
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge 3.94 avg rating β€” 44,703 ratings
47.
Argonauts of the Western Pacific
Argonauts of the Western Pacific 3.76 avg rating β€” 1,422 ratings
48.
The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies
The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies 3.91 avg rating β€” 3,747 ratings
48.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals 4.19 avg rating β€” 208,906 ratings
50.
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined 4.16 avg rating β€” 29,271 ratings
50.
The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence 4.19 avg rating β€” 21,191 ratings
52.
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature 4.09 avg rating β€” 25,079 ratings
53.
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism 4.11 avg rating β€” 15,876 ratings
53.
Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache
Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache 4.18 avg rating β€” 1,686 ratings
55.
Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture
Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture 3.86 avg rating β€” 4,038 ratings
56.
Growing Up in New Guinea
Growing Up in New Guinea 3.69 avg rating β€” 186 ratings
56.
Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies
Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies 3.81 avg rating β€” 716 ratings
58.
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst 4.39 avg rating β€” 29,608 ratings
59.
The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky
The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky 4.02 avg rating β€” 1,880 ratings
60.
The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?
The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? 3.78 avg rating β€” 10,885 ratings
61.
A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan
A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan 4.09 avg rating β€” 18,963 ratings
62.
Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche
Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche 4.09 avg rating β€” 4,189 ratings
63.
Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization
Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization 4.16 avg rating β€” 14,996 ratings
63.
Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (America: A Cultural History, Vol. I)
Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (America: A Cultural History, Vol. I) 4.37 avg rating β€” 3,471 ratings
65.
The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough 4.02 avg rating β€” 8,610 ratings
66.
The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry
The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry really liked it 4.00 avg rating β€” 7,556 ratings
66.
Myths to Live By
Myths to Live By 4.16 avg rating β€” 7,035 ratings
68.
Totem and Taboo
Totem and Taboo 3.85 avg rating β€” 11,072 ratings
69.
A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons
A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons 4.39 avg rating β€” 8,662 ratings
70.
The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences
The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences 4.12 avg rating β€” 9,486 ratings
71.
The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene 4.16 avg rating β€” 189,070 ratings
72.
The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion
The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion 4.11 avg rating β€” 8,892 ratings
73.
Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist
Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist 4.05 avg rating β€” 6,576 ratings
74.
The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change
The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change 4.17 avg rating β€” 2,316 ratings
75.
Mules and Men
Mules and Men 4.10 avg rating β€” 6,334 ratings
76.
A Short History of Progress
A Short History of Progress 4.10 avg rating β€” 5,391 ratings
77.
A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster
A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster 3.94 avg rating β€” 3,773 ratings
77.
Gods, Graves and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology
Gods, Graves and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology 4.25 avg rating β€” 2,766 ratings
79.
The Last Days of the Incas
The Last Days of the Incas 4.20 avg rating β€” 6,887 ratings
79.
The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850
The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850 3.84 avg rating β€” 2,720 ratings
81.
The Island of the Colorblind
The Island of the Colorblind 3.88 avg rating β€” 5,100 ratings
82.
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins 3.97 avg rating β€” 7,634 ratings
83.
The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War
The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War 3.99 avg rating β€” 2,573 ratings
84.
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World 3.99 avg rating β€” 3,775 ratings
85.
Why the West Rulesβ€”for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future
Why the West Rulesβ€”for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future 4.11 avg rating β€” 5,829 ratings
86.
The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic
The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic 3.92 avg rating β€” 5,279 ratings
87.
Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States
Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States 4.13 avg rating β€” 4,579 ratings
88.
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen 4.30 avg rating β€” 228,820 ratings
88.
The Practice of Everyday Life
The Practice of Everyday Life 4.10 avg rating β€” 4,001 ratings
88.
The Descent of Man
The Descent of Man 4.04 avg rating β€” 4,411 ratings
88.
Magicians of the Gods: The Forgotten Wisdom of Earth's Lost Civilization
Magicians of the Gods: The Forgotten Wisdom of Earth's Lost Civilization 4.18 avg rating β€” 6,597 ratings
88.
Outliers: The Story of Success
Outliers: The Story of Success 4.19 avg rating β€” 845,892 ratings
93.
Myth and Meaning: Cracking the Code of Culture
Myth and Meaning: Cracking the Code of Culture 3.76 avg rating β€” 2,499 ratings
93.
Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions
Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions 4.28 avg rating β€” 2,000 ratings
93.
The Phenomenon of Man
The Phenomenon of Man 4.05 avg rating β€” 1,649 ratings
93.
Humankind: A Hopeful History
Humankind: A Hopeful History 4.32 avg rating β€” 75,183 ratings
97.
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity 3.98 avg rating β€” 114,830 ratings
97.
The Meme Machine
The Meme Machine 3.86 avg rating β€” 4,217 ratings
97.
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World 4.17 avg rating β€” 5,288 ratings
97.
The Division of Labor in Society
The Division of Labor in Society 3.84 avg rating β€” 2,272 ratings
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