This is a great book. I first read it about thirty years ago when I was in college. The book reminded me of that part of my childhood spent growing up on the Navajo Nation, when my parents were school teachers there. The book is an anthropological document of the first order but it reads like a novel and is full of humor and pathos. It shows the joy of childhood in a 'simple' culture while painting vivid images of that culture. While the book struck a resonant chord with me, its appeal is universal. It is a mystery, because the unexpectedness of real life is in every page, but it is free of horror and full of affection. I would like to see the book reprinted in hard cover so I can add it to my library in proper form, though I still have the thirty year old paperback.

I had to read this book for my intro to Anthropology class in college. I thought that was ok for additional anthropology reading, but I would never read this book for fun. It's the story of a Navajo from his childhood to adulthood and all of the experience and things you must go through when living in a culture that moves around a lot. It was interesting in the fact that while studying various cultures, it was an autobiography of what another culture was actually like and how in Left Handed's culture, everyone is related. It a good book for understanding other cultures, especially for a class like anthropology.

This text has some very interesting (and vivid) sexual accounts, also marriage practices, family relations, etc. It's a quite interesting life story and a funny sidenote: there are obvious places where the ... author edited the Dine' autobiographer's language because it might be perceived by some as derrogatory. Overall, I like this account very much!! ...