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List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £4.66
Author:
Robert M.L. Winston
By Bantam Books
 Savannah mammals, 2006-12-15
This is a fantastic book. The idea that humans adapted to life on the Savannah over a period of millions of years and will therefore be ill-equiped to handle city life is eloquently and simply put. I thorougly enjoyed this book and could not put it down. Together with 'The Naked Ape' I would go so far as to say we have a technical manual for human behaviour. Required reading for any inquisitive homo sapien.
List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £4.82
Author:
Spencer Wells
By Penguin
The Journey of Man is not just some old fashioned sexist travelogue about a bloke in shorts and sandals wandering the byways of the world. As the subtitle explains, it is "a genetic odyssey" of men rather than women. We have heard a lot about the matriarchal "African Eve". As Spencer Wells says, we all have an African foremother who lived approximately 150,000 years ago. She handed down her genetic mitochondrial "handbag" specifically to her daughter and on over the generations and millennia. But what about the male contribution to today's human genome? Luckily for the male ego and population geneticists it turns out that blokes also have some unique chromosomal hand baggage hidden away in the non-recombining part of the Y chromosome. Like female mitochondrial DNA it is passed solely between father and son and is particularly useful for studying human diversity. This is because it is so big--much bigger than mitochondrial DNA--and accumulates mutations at particular sites that can be relatively easily identified. By sampling the Y chromosome from men around the world the modern human diaspora can be mapped out both geographically and chronologically. Spencer Wells...
"Y" is the answer - not the question, 2004-04-01
A few years ago a furor arose over the announcement that a calculation of mitochondrial DNA mutation rate formulated an "African Eve". Since then other genetic ancestral studies have been undertaken. Most notable of these was the determination that Neanderthal was not a direct ancestor of modern humans. Spencer Wells provides an enthralling overview of the research tracking changes in the Y [male] chromosome. The studies verify again that our origins are African. Somewhere, around 60 000 years ago, lived one man, a flesh and blood individual, from whom we've all descended. His progeny, in an amazingly short span, scattered around the globe. The scattering isn't news, but the verification of the paths and chronology is lucid and vividly outlined in this book.The key to the tracking, as Wells makes abundantly clear, are various polymorphisms [changes] in the Y chromosome. These mutations are reflected in today's populations and the rate of their diversity indicates the approximate age of the various regional groups. These changes, nearly all prefixed "M" [male?] are used as ingredients in recipes Wells offers as illustrative metaphor. It's a clever ploy, so long as you remember ingredients may only be added, never removed nor replaced. That's how genetics works, he reminds us. He portrays the build-up of recipe ingredients with maps and diagrams. The diagrams are almost redundant as the clarity of his prose enables you to envision them. Following the paths of migration, Wells shows how some archaeological finds offer support for the patterns he sees. Fossils are rare, elusive and sometimes misunderstood. Genetics, buried deep in our cells, are unequivocal in providing their evidence. Dating methods are briefly described and their shortcomings mercilessly paraded. Wells doesn't give the paleoanthropologists much voice. His story needs telling and the reader may go elsewhere for countering information. Yet he acknowledges the importance of confirming information from various digs around the world. Wells firmly addresses a great anomaly - if modern humans arose from the evolutionary bouillabaisse about 60 millennia ago, how did the Aborigines arrive in Australia at nearly the same time? His answer is that the track followed shore routes, not inland ones. Hunter-gatherer groups, subject to the whims of climate, food resources and population pressure took the softest trail. Africa to Australia during ice ages was a gentle, if lengthy, stroll. Nit-picking department: Wells' opening gun is turned on the racial "expert" Carleton Coon, who asserted the human races each followed a separate evolutionary path. Coon has been refuted in so many ways by so many researchers, Wells' effort seems superfluous. There are more competent scientists adhering to the "Multiregional" thesis. Some of these researchers might have been given a small voice in an annotated bibliography. While Wells offers a reading list for each chapter, a full bibliography would be an enhancement. Many of his references are remote. That doesn't tarnish the value of this book. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £2.96
Author:
Ali Rattansi
By OUP Oxford
Excellent. Gets to grips with complex and changing ideas., 2008-04-11
Ali Rattansi's `Very Short Introduction to Racism' is an excellent overview and update on some of the latest social scientific understandings of racism, it's history and the evolution of racist ideas. Rattansi also tackles issues which many people will find difficult, such as why there isn't actually any such thing as race and, therefore, how can there be racism if there is no race? It's excellent, although I do have a few quibbles.
Rattansi starts with an understanding of what racism is rather than a precise definition of racism, which he regards as unhelpful in attempting to understand an ever evolving phenomenon. He also offers an overview of the history of racism, confirming that such notions are not present throughout most of human history and are the product of the modern era, beginning, according to Rattansi, with the age of discovery and the start of European colonialism in Africa and the New World.
Here's a quibble, Rattansi says; "The question of exactly how much slavery contributed to doctrines of race is a matter of dispute." True. But he could mention that the idea that it is not is very much a minority position. Rattansi does not deal, for example, with the change in slavery's `racial' practice in the period after Bacon's Rebellion.
The role of the Enlightenment is neatly dealt with by reference to Linnaeus' `scientific' categorisation of humanity and the further development of scientific racism in the nineteenth century.
The role of nationalism in the development of racist ideas is explored and the complexity and confusion of national and racial notions are shown in the coalescence of ideas of race, nation, people, citizen, culture and class. Rattansi shows the paradox of the British working class and the Irish being portrayed as `negroid' in the early part of the nineteenth century, only to be admitted to the ranks of the `white race' at the height of the imperial age and the scramble for Africa.
Rattansi then discusses the Holocaust and the consequent loss of credibility for scientific racism that occurred as a result. A second blow is delivered to scientific racism by science itself, by biology and genetics - the fact that, as individuals genetically vary more than the supposed racial groups into which they have been categorised - race does not, actually, exist.
We are thus left with the conundrum of racism without races. Rattansi tackles this well at the start of the book by pointing out that the Nazi definition of `Who is a Jew?' always contained a cultural as well as a supposed biological element. He goes on to demonstrate, through the speeches of people like Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher, how the process of racialisation works; an acknowledgement of a wide spectrum and confusion of views with a myriad of taken for granted assumptions regarding race, nation, ethnicity and `way of life'.
Understanding this process enables Rattansi to see Islamophobia as racism. He, rightly, dislikes the term `Islamophobia' - it is not, after all, a psychological condition - but does not offer the obvious alternative of `anti-Muslim racism'. Rattansi also misses a chance to demonstrate the continuity between `Islamophobia' and previous racist ideas: the Powell/Thatcher notion that New Commonwealth (ie black) immigrants are culturally inferior due to their `race', the notions of the Eurabia conspiracy theory and how that borrows from traditional anti-semitism. Rattansi does give an excellent example in the opposition to Turkish membership of the EU on the basis that Turks can never be European because they are Muslim but, again, misses the continuity here from Enlightenment ideas that `Europe ended at the mind of the Turk'.
Interesting discussions follow on the notion of intention in racist ideas, illustrated by well known recent quotes from Robert Kilroy-Silk and Ron Atkinson.
The notion of scapegoating as a Freudian explanation for racism is, rightly, dismissed. Although, here, I feel, Rattansi missed an opportunity to make a point about power and powerlessness in class society and how this feeds racist scapegoating.
The book finishes with interesting discussions on notions of institutional racism, affirmative action, the increasing success of fascist parties such as the BNP and how notions of a Clash of Civilisations also can feed racist ideas.
So, recommended reading. I'd follow this up with Arun Kundnani's excellent `The End of Tolerance'.
List Price: £3.99
Our Price: £0.89
Author:
Drew Launay
By Oval Books
humorous explanations for the Spanish way of life, 2001-08-06
I have read many of the 'Xenophobe's guides' and this one, once again hits the mark, spot on! I have several Spanish friends and have lived in Spain for several months and this book reminded me of many of the funny incidents I've had with the Spanish. Without going into excessive detail and in a very humorous way, the book gives you so much information about the real nature of the people and the country. I couldn't put the little book down and read it in a matter of hours. I find myself dipping into it now and again just to remind me of the Spanish way.
List Price: £6.99
Our Price: £3.23
Author:
Oliver Sacks
By Picador
 Diversity of essays, 2008-08-09
This was described as two books in one but there seemed like at least three strands to the subject matter. In fact the chapters were broken down into four long chapters; the first two tell of the indigenous peoples predisposition to a rare type of genetic colour blindness. Sacks travels with a western colleage who also has this condition along with expert knowledge.
The third (mammoth) chapter was unexpected from the title which is the chief reason why I didn't rate this book more highly. As a neurologist, Sacks cannot resist the temptation here to launch into a huge digression of a further medical curiosity peculiar to the islands (a disease/s of the brain, often affecting the rest of the body with time.) Sacks is expert here and writes competently, but this was not the story I bought the book for. If you like neurology stories, another of his books (the man who mistook his wife for a hat) is recommended.
Finally, the last and smallest chapter (around 20 pages), was devoted soley to the natural history of one of the islands (where prehistoric plants abound). This chapter lucidly communicated the depths of time, which was excellent reading. The extensive notes at the end were also well worth a read.
List Price: £20.99
Our Price: £18.22
Author:
Eric Rayner, Angela Joyce, James Rose, Mary Twyman, Christopher Clulow
By Routledge
Interesting but dated!, 2001-02-15
This was a textbook for the counselling course I just completed, so compulsory reading. Not the kind of book you'd pick up for a light read, but it *is* one I wish I'd read while my kids were still babies. Rayner takes the reader through all aspects of human development from birth to death. There were parts of this book which were fascinating, particularly the sections on early psychology and what can go wrong with the development and growth of self during the baby stages. I also read about behaviours I'd seen in my own (and everyone else's children!) and never really understood before. Where Rayner falls short (the book was written in the 60's) is in his assumptions about gender roles. I and many of my colleagues, found him very sexist and limited in his views on such things as working women, single parent families, and marriage. My views are still relatively consevative, so if yours are radical, this book could get you very angry! This is a good basic textbook, and would even make a good read for an interested parent, but be prepared for dated views alongside generally agreed truths about how we as people grow and mature.
List Price: £7.99
Our Price: £2.97
Author:
Laurens Van der Post
By Vintage
very readable travel writing, 2007-12-18
I would like to rebut one reviewer's comments that van der Post had never been to Africa before he wrote this, which is poppycock, and that reviewer clearly hadn't read the book.
This is a great read, it is somewhat a pop anthropology book, but that is not why you should read it. It is in the ilk of 'green hills of africa', and a brilliant travel/expedition book. I must say that i have been to parts of africa and it has helped my imagination run wild whilst reading this book. But I'm sure it would appeal just as much to those who just have a vivid imagination. The book is full of well written description, and has a real thread to the whole book (something 'green hills of africa' lacks). It centres on van der Post's attempts to find the San Bushmen.
Van der Post is a well renowned writer, and despite this book being relatively old, it is still excellent, and something you'll not want to put down once you've started it.
A great book to read if you're going to Southern Africa, or have an interest in the region and it's peoples.
List Price: £25.99
Our Price: £20.00
Author:
Martyn Hammersley, Paul Atkinson
By Routledge
The best textbook I've ever read & studied from, 2008-08-16
This book is the course text for the Open University ethnography module, D844, and it's one of the few textbooks which I've found truly enjoyable to read. It's a great introduction to ethnography (which I've never studied before), and is very thorough, deep and detailed, without at any point becoming too dry. Hammersley and Atkinson really explain the concepts tackled, and never fall into the trap of merely scratching the surface and then moving on (a textbook trait which I find infuriating!).
There are many illustrative examples taken from a diverse range of previous ethnographic studies, so that theory and practice are linked. This book is clear, the authors' enthusiasm comes across by the bucketful, and most importantly this gives an excellent grounding in the nature, practicalities and possibilities of ethnographic research. If only all textbooks could be like this!
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