This book brings together some of the best minds to discuss what we
know about evolutionary strategies for mating, parenting, reproduction
and altruism. It consists of numerous studies showing the universality
of human behavior, and how different ecologies result in different
local behaviors, all the while conforming to our innate algorithms.
That is, how nature and nurture combine resulting in our modern
societies, and how our maladaptations with regards to rep[17~roduction
and altruism are a result of our technology changing the rules of
adapted strategies. Such things as birth control have now unlinked
male social displays of wealth and dominance that once led to
reproductive success.

But the best part of the book is the Statement
of Theories. It is a lucid history of how cultural anthropology has
all but abandoned the scientific empiricism for a politically driven
agenda of cultural determinism. That is, while these radical
environmentalists were criticizing evolutionary approaches without
coming up with alternative theories, evolutionary theorists were
charging ahead, making phenomenal progress in understanding human
nature. It explains again how detractors such as Sahlins, Gould,
Lewontin, Kamin, Rose, et al., with their condemnation of the
evolutionary perspective, without providing alternative hypotheses,
have actually accelerated the progress made in linking humans to all
other organisms in an evolutionary explanation of how we interact with
the world about us.


[17~[17~[17~

Overall, this book is must
reading, especially for anyone interested in demographics, parenting,
and reproduction rates of different population groups. Especially now
when there is a renewed interest in many countries that reproduction
rates are so low that immigration is sought to make up the difference,
with the impending problems it brings when multiculturalism replaces
homogeneous populations and cultures.

The greatest error in social theory throughout the 20th century was the belief that humans are so different from other species that none of the tools normally used to study behavior in non-humans is applicable to the study of behavior in humans. Usually this was supported by arguing that human culture is so variable and human nature so malleable that we have virtually completely transcended our animal roots.

E. O. Wilson's great book, Sociobiology (1975) changed all that. Despite ferocious opposition to the idea that humans are animals deeply affected by their evolutionary history (Wilson was called a racist and a fascist by very eminent biologists and anthropologists), a whole generation of young researchers got the message, and began producing extremely valuable studies confirming that many aspects of human psychology and human social organization could be better appreciated by treating humans as the product of evolution, and using methods little different from the study of primates, and even birds and insects.

This book is an edited collection of some of the major research efforts undertaken by these evolutionary psychologists, sociobiologists, and behavioral ecologists. The research is for the most part not armchair theorizing, but the analysis of painfully collected and minutely analyzed data on small scale societies. After two chapters of nicely developed theory, the book offers five chapters on mating, followed by another five chapters on parenting.

The book then attacks a major problem in sociobiology: the demographic transition, which occurred in Europe a century ago, and is occuring in many developing nations today. The demographic transition consists of a fall in the birth rate following a rise in per capital income---an event that is quite unexpected, since sociobiology is based on the notion that humans are/were in their evolutionary history, fitness maximizers. The most plausible explanation, offered by Kaplan and Lancaster, is that humans do not maximize fitness, but rather a combination of fitness and welfare. The implications of this for social theory are immense, and begin to draw sociobiology back into conformance with economic theory, which stresses utility maximization.

The book then presents four papers on human sociality. These papers, while quite impressive, are to my mind excessively closely tied to Robert Triver's notion of reciprocal altruism, and more broadly, Richard Alexander's slightly broader notion of indirect altruism. I think recent evidence fairly conclusively shows that human behavior is not self-interested even in the widest sense, and some theory of multilevel selection and/or culture/gene coevolution is needed to explain human sociality in an acceptable manner.

But these are quibbles on the edge of current research, and should by no means deter the interested reader from profiting from these exciting and impressive articles.

This book is a great referrence tool. When first written, it was in keeping with the times and type of training methods being used. For todays methods, the basics are still the same. Reader should use good judgement when applying some methods in this book. Over all this is an excellent book. This book would compliment training classes.

This bestseller ethnography is praised for its detail; Chagnon is praised for unprecedented geneological and geographical data. Chagnon has spent many decades living with these people and collecting data. Cultural ecology, subsistence and political organization seem to be his strengths, but the text is exceedingly masculine. It can be criticized for ignorning women, those with less power, and power differential. The author's depiction of the Yanomamo as warlike and fierce is argued as overdone and jeapardizing of the wellbeing of the Yanomamo. Prior to Chagnon they were a mostly uncontacted people and since they have been enculturated, devastated by mining, and have lost respect due to their fierce reputation. Very thought provoking, informative and controversial, this 260 page ethnography is a must read for anyone interested in the field of anthropology.

this book is a good introduction to the Yanomamo people of the Amazon rainforest, in Venezuela & Brazil. There's so much literature on these people; this book really is just an introduction. One thing Chagnon communicates very well in it is how terribly tragic he thinks what's happening to them now is, with western influence, especially in the last chapter. Anyway the way he writes is great.

I am a graduating student of Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon who was assigned to read this book for a Cultural Anthropology class. Much to my surprise, this book has become a real page-turner!

I never thought I'd have a hard time putting down a textbook. Chagnon's insightful, and more importantly, personalized account of his experiences living among an Amazonian tribe is riveting. He is graphic and provides the kind of realistic detail that is rarely encountered in a textbook - at least none that I've come across so far. He pulls no punches, either in his descriptions of the cultural mores of the Yanomamo, or relating his own struggles and disagreements with his anthropological colleagues.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about other cultures, and what motivates humans to behave as they do. This is not just a book for college students or those working in the Anthropology field. I am a Business Management major, but I find the insights this book gives on the human condition to be invaluable. It is always important to be able to see the world through other people's eyes, and Napoleon Chagnon makes that possible through this book.

What better recommendation can I give, but that I will definitely not be selling this book back to my college bookstore, but rather adding it to my personal library!

Chagnon's book is one of the most widely read ethnographies of tribal and animistic people. In it you read how Chagnon sees the Yanamamo. If you want to read how the Yanamamo see Chagnon and other 'nabas' read "Spirit of the Rainforest" by Mark Andrew Ritchie. It is written from the perspective of a Yanamamo shaman. You will discover things not covered in Chagnon's work.

It is unusual for an anthropologist to be able to write jargon-free English, and to do so in a way that is accessible and interesting to a general reader. Chagnon accomplishes this and more in this fascinating account of his experiences among the Yanomamo tribe in Venezuela over a 30-year period. Chagnon comes across as somebody who cares deeply about the Yanomamo, but who will not permit that passion to affect his anthropological analyses. He therefore does not shrink from drawing conclusions about Yanonamo culture that might offend those who would romanticize them. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anybody who has an interest in tribal culture. It is probably the best book of its kind for the non-specialist that I have ever read.