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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Sprawling content, compact little book. One of my favorites by him, you come away with so many things you want to learn more about.
Way back, since my undergrad years (2007-2011) I have always loved a good anthropological text. Because my bachelors degree is in Anthropology, I was trained very early on to read anthropological texts and analyze them. Those skills never die, obviously.
This book is a series of chapters where Wade Davis retells some of the most touching and important stories of his career, and what those mean for him on a whole. Each chapter is quite concise and covers at least one culture. Embedded within each chapter are several deeper, more cerebral concepts that can be pulled out and applied to other cultures around the world.
This book is great as a primer for cultural anthropology or as a piece to read as a refresher if you have been out of the loop for a while. I love Wade Davis' writing style and how easy and fun his writing is to read; I can only imagine his public speaking is even better. He seems to want to share all his stories with you, the reader, but also get you in a place where you can think actively about the topics he is presenting and apply them to your own life. What I love with this book is that although he is discussing cultures and tribes in nations that feel so far away from us, it all is relevant to our lives on a daily basis because we are all human.
There are so many points in this book where I had to stop and take a note or write a quote down. There is so much to take in with this small book. It almost seems to open the door for cultural anthropology and give you just a taste of what you are missing. This is a book that, because of how it is written and what it presents, it would be great to teach an introduction to cultural anthropology course with.
Along the same lines, I love the introduction to Wade Davis' mind that you get in this book. He is a brilliant man and has obviously lived an amazing life. I knew about him before I read this book (I actually started another one of his books, loved it, but never was able to finish it) and already had a deep respect and fascination for a man who values diversity and cultural differences so much that he stakes his career and life on those principals. He is one of those people whose bookshelves I would love to examine because the suggestions and things he would have to offer would be priceless.
Overall, this is a great book for a seasoned scholar or a newbie coming into the field. It is written in a way that is engaging but not overly scholarly; a layperson could read this book and enjoy it just as the same as a scholar. This book for me is flawless. Do I wish he had went a bit deeper with the anthropological theory, yes. I am glad that he didn't go a bit deeper with the anthropological theory, yes. Reading books like this feels like meeting up with an old friend and grabbing a coffee. It is so deep and comforting; when you finish reading it, you know you were supposed to read it.
This book is a series of chapters where Wade Davis retells some of the most touching and important stories of his career, and what those mean for him on a whole. Each chapter is quite concise and covers at least one culture. Embedded within each chapter are several deeper, more cerebral concepts that can be pulled out and applied to other cultures around the world.
This book is great as a primer for cultural anthropology or as a piece to read as a refresher if you have been out of the loop for a while. I love Wade Davis' writing style and how easy and fun his writing is to read; I can only imagine his public speaking is even better. He seems to want to share all his stories with you, the reader, but also get you in a place where you can think actively about the topics he is presenting and apply them to your own life. What I love with this book is that although he is discussing cultures and tribes in nations that feel so far away from us, it all is relevant to our lives on a daily basis because we are all human.
There are so many points in this book where I had to stop and take a note or write a quote down. There is so much to take in with this small book. It almost seems to open the door for cultural anthropology and give you just a taste of what you are missing. This is a book that, because of how it is written and what it presents, it would be great to teach an introduction to cultural anthropology course with.
Along the same lines, I love the introduction to Wade Davis' mind that you get in this book. He is a brilliant man and has obviously lived an amazing life. I knew about him before I read this book (I actually started another one of his books, loved it, but never was able to finish it) and already had a deep respect and fascination for a man who values diversity and cultural differences so much that he stakes his career and life on those principals. He is one of those people whose bookshelves I would love to examine because the suggestions and things he would have to offer would be priceless.
Overall, this is a great book for a seasoned scholar or a newbie coming into the field. It is written in a way that is engaging but not overly scholarly; a layperson could read this book and enjoy it just as the same as a scholar. This book for me is flawless. Do I wish he had went a bit deeper with the anthropological theory, yes. I am glad that he didn't go a bit deeper with the anthropological theory, yes. Reading books like this feels like meeting up with an old friend and grabbing a coffee. It is so deep and comforting; when you finish reading it, you know you were supposed to read it.
lovingly written with a searing intensity, this book made me feel extremely sad and utterly alive at the same time, glad and exhilarated to be able to share the world with such strange cultures. any good book is supposed to broaden your horizons. this one did, stupendously. bonus? from the mind and heart and words not of a fiction writer, but of a real life "resident explorer of the National Geographic Society".
everything I always dreamed of being as a child, and more. it makes me see religion and culture in new and dazzling lights; it makes me look at my worldview as a pathetically impoverished one; it brings me into worlds - worlds that still exist, somewhere out there - I thought only possible in my dreams. my only regret is that I'm a history major, and have none of the skills nor training Davis posseses as an ethnobotanist and anthropologist.
everything I always dreamed of being as a child, and more. it makes me see religion and culture in new and dazzling lights; it makes me look at my worldview as a pathetically impoverished one; it brings me into worlds - worlds that still exist, somewhere out there - I thought only possible in my dreams. my only regret is that I'm a history major, and have none of the skills nor training Davis posseses as an ethnobotanist and anthropologist.
Wade Davis is definitely not a writer, but this was a really interesting read for a school assigned book. I loved how it was set up in little stories about different indigenous cultures that Davis experienced - it made it super easy to read, just wasn’t wrapped up together skillfully.
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
Excellent! I learned so much, and I wish there was more! That’s my only complaint.
adventurous
dark
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
I've been a fan of Wade Davis for a long time, and this book is a beautiful over-view of his work and perspectives. Fairly succinct essays are accompanied by photography and the whole package has made me want to do a lot of deeper reading into the cultures and ways of living touched on here. If you've ever thought that the loss of the world's languages is no big deal or that it doesn't matter if indigenous cultures are subsumed into our technologically driven "modern" world, then you need to read this book right now. And there's just a lot of unbelievably interesting stuff in here. Did you know that the Inuit can make functional knives out of their own frozen feces? Neither did I. And that's only one of a million ways that they make their frozen landscape work for them instead of against them. Crazy! This book felt like a really fantastic undergraduate lecture. It only scratches the surface of a huge topic, but it's an excellent introduction that doesn't have a dull moment.
This has amazing photographs! If I kept books on the coffee table, this would be one.