Anthropology

‘Will Storr is one of our best journalists of ideas … The Status Game might be his best yet’ James Marriott, Books of the Year, The Times What drives our political and moral beliefs? What makes us like some things and dislike others? What shapes how we behave, and misbehave, in groups?...

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs and Steel examines the rise of civilization and the issues its development has raised throughout history. Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped...

From the bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia, learn what sets high achievers apart—from Bill Gates to the Beatles—in this seminal work from "a singular talent" (New York Times Book Review). In this stunning book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of...

From New York Times bestselling author, feminist pioneer, and cultural icon bell hooks, an evergreen treatise on how patriarchy and toxic masculinity hurts us all. Feminist writing did not tell us about the deep inner misery of men. Everyone needs to love and be loved—including men. But to...

Jordan B. Peterson's Maps of Meaning is now available for the first time as an audio download! Why have people from different cultures and eras formulated myths and stories with similar structures? What does this similarity tell us about the mind, morality, and structure of the world itself?...

Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt....

'Superb ... entertaining ... Phillips traverses this sprawling terrain with energy and charm' Telegraph 'Exceptionally funny from cover to cover, it is not only an entertaining read but also deeply researched and thoughtful' Irish Independent 'Fans of Phillips's earlier books Humans and Truth...

This fascinating history tells the story of the people of Japan, from ancient teenage priest-queens to teeming hordes of salarymen, a nation that once sought to conquer China, yet also shut itself away for two centuries in self-imposed seclusion....

The day that turns a life upside down usually starts like any other, but what happens the day after? Dual Walkley Award-winner Leigh Sales investigates how ordinary people endure the unthinkable. As a journalist, Leigh Sales often encounters people experiencing the worst moments of their lives...

Three short masterpieces by the brilliant Roman historian, Tacitus....

Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? Author James C. Scott analyzes failed cases of large-scale authoritarian plans in a variety of fields....

The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Sex at Dawn explores the ways in which “progress” has perverted the way we live—how we eat, learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die—in this “engaging, extensively documented, well-organized, and thought-provoking” (Booklist)...

Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies....

This collection of writings by Mark Fisher, author of the acclaimed Capitalist Realism, argues that we are haunted by futures that failed to happen....

Our perception of the Neanderthals has undergone a metamorphosis since their discovery 160 years ago, from the losers of the human family tree to A-list hominins....

Standing between you and the man you can be is one thing: The Mask of Masculinity....

Violence and the Sacred is Rene Girard's landmark study of human evil. Here Girard explores violence as it is represented and occurs throughout history, literature, and myth.

An “engrossing, unputdownable” (Amanda Montell, New York Times bestselling author) pop history that explains why the eccentric doomsday beliefs of our Puritan founders are still driving American culture today, contextualizes the current rise in far-right extremism as a natural result of our...

There's no one better qualified than Jared Diamond to explain the evolutionary forces that operated on our ancestors to make us sexually different. With wit and examples, he explains how our sexuality has been as crucial as our large brains and upright posture in our rise to human status....

21st-Century Yokel explores the way we can be tied inescapably to landscape, whether we like it or not, often through our family and our past....

A literal graveyard of wild coincidences, slapstick humor, and touching moments, Over Our Dead Bodies explores the lighter side of the dead, the living, and the lone undertaker who has to make it all go as planned - even if it doesn't....

Although eugenics is now widely discredited, some groups and individuals claim a new scientific basis for old racist assumptions. Pondering the continuing influence of racist research and thought, despite all evidence to the contrary, Robert Wald Sussman explains why....

We assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice....

A groundbreaking, “lavishly informative” (The New York Times) portrait of the six generations that currently live in the United States and how they connect, conflict, and compete with one another—from the acclaimed author of Generation Me and iGen. Upending the conventional theory that...

“We’ve all been desperate to learn what heavy use of social media does to adolescents. Now, thanks to Twenge’s careful analysis, we know: It is making them lonely, anxious, and fragile—especially our girls. If you are a parent, teacher, or employer, you must read this fascinating book...

Alle Jahre wieder naht der Winter, Kälte und Dunkelheit fordern viele von uns heraus. Manche erleiden sogar eine saisonale Depression. Ihre Einstellung, Rituale und Routinen lassen die Norweger diese Zeit genießen. Das persönliche Mindset und Verhalten können also die eigene Wintererfahrung verändern.

In diesen pointierten Texten setzt sich Nietzsche mit der Rolle des Künstlers auseinander: mit Eitelkeit, Einsamkeit, Schöpferkraft, Selbstzweifeln – und dem Spannungsfeld zwischen Inspiration und Selbstüberschätzung. Die Aphorismen sind scharf, klug und bis heute provozierend aktuell – ein psychologisches Porträt des schöpferischen Menschen und ein kritischer Blick auf die Kulturszene seiner Zeit.

Tras el convencimiento falaz de que sobran seres humanos en el planeta, se extiende amenazante una ideología inducida que considera que la vida de una mascota es más valiosa que la de personas que disienten, bebés no nacidos, o ancianos enfermos. Nace así una peligrosa nueva religión laica apocalíptica basada en la ira, pero disfrazada de amor por la naturaleza, el planeta y el clima. En estas páginas argumenta, con un enfoque original y aportando datos asombrosos: la diferencia entre dos perspectivas opuestas; el lobo de Dios -lupus dei- y el dios Lobo -lupus deus.

En abril de 2023, Byung-Chul Han viajó por primera vez a Portugal e impartió unas conferencias en Oporto y Lisboa. Días después ofreció, también por primera vez, una conferencia musical en Leipzig. La tonalidad del pensamiento nace de estas conferencias. La conferencia musical de Leipzig, «La tonalidad del pensamiento», que contó con la interpretación al piano de las piezas favoritas del autor, da título a esta obra y en ella Han expone los tonos y temas que atraviesan su filosofía y repasa la importancia de la música en su obra.

Ireland – North and South – has sustained significant change in the last 100 years, accelerating at the end of the 20th century with the legalization of contraception, divorce, gay marriage, the end of the ‘Troubles’, and freedom to choose abortion and reproductive autonomy. This collection of specially commissioned essays tells the stories of cloth, clothing, textiles and materials that have been actually or symbolically stained by blood or other bodily fluids in Ireland’s last 100 years.

¿Cuál es nuestro origen como especie? ¿Están involucrados los neandertales? Estas preguntas y otras muchas acerca de nuestro pasado como especie forman parte de uno de los grandes hitos en la paleoantropología, completar el árbol genealógico humano. El paleontólogo Antonio Monclova nos descubre en esta obra las grandes cuestiones acerca de los neandertales, que tanto interés están suscitando.

Addiction by Design takes listeners into the intriguing world of machine gambling, an increasingly popular and absorbing form of play that blurs the line between human and machine, compulsion and control, risk and reward.

The field of folklore studies is over two centuries old, and it's full of amazing insights about human behavior, creativity, and community. Folklore studies is as interdisciplinary as it gets, squished somewhere between anthropology and linguistics and religious studies and comparative literature and more. It’s all about the informal human interactions, the million tiny acts and stories and beliefs and arts that function as social glue even if they seem beneath notice.

USA: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture takes you on a tour of the core influences and ideals that have shaped this great country and have driven the behavior and attitudes found on Main Street and in the workplace. It looks at Americans at work, at home, and at play, and provides the visitor with an up-to-date cultural road map of this dynamic, multifaceted society.

Over the past five years, medical aid-in-dying (also known as assisted suicide) has expanded rapidly in the United States and is now legally available to one in five Americans. This growing social and political movement heralds the possibility of a new era of choice in dying. Yet very little is publicly known about how medical aid-in-dying laws affect ordinary citizens once they are put into practice.