City Travel Guides > Books > Social and Cultural

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.Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
City Travel Guides > Books > Social and Cultural
by: Oliver Sacks

November 02, 2007
By now, it's a given that an Oliver Sacks' book is worth your time and close attention. His particular talent lies in making the science interesting without becoming a "pop-science" writer. This is not an easy achievement, but Sacks manages it with facility. He can explain the science in terms of case studies - many of which have claimed his medical attention. He does this while mixing in experiences of his own and some personal reflections which are anything but intrusions. While some of his books are essays on selected individuals ["An Anthropologist on Mars" is an example], this one has a very special focus: the minds that make music unbidden.

Music arising in the mind without prompting may seem a common enough occurence. The ... Read More:
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.Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology (Anthropology, Culture and Society)
City Travel Guides > Books > Social and Cultural
by: Thomas Hylland Eriksen

April 20, 2001
I started first semester anthropologi accompanied by Eriksen's book. It has become my dictionary which i still consult after starting on my master degree. I will also recomend it for people who know nothing about anthropologi. Its interesting and you learn a lot. It is easy to read and gives you a good overview over anthropologi. People studying athropologi on a higher level will find the book a bit too easy and shallow if anything... But great and useful anyway! I love the book.
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.In the Shadow of Papillon: Seven Years of Hell in Venezuela's Prison System
City Travel Guides > Books > Social and Cultural
by: Frank Kane, John Tilsley

October 04, 2007
Good Lord what a book it does not happen very often and i often 'force read' a lot of books but this was brilliant & i could not put it down xxx
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.Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women
City Travel Guides > Books > Social and Cultural
by: Geraldine Brooks

February 22, 2007
I bought this on a whim after a trip to Egypt that left me confused about what I was seeing at home and abroad in regard to women in Islam. Easy to read and not at all 'dry' the text is written by a journalist who I feel has avoided simply reporting stereotypes (as one reviewer has alleged) while not shying away from any truth in assumptions those ignorant to Islam or the Middle East may have made. She talks to progressive Muslims as well as hard-liners and though perhaps it is clear she supports a more progressive view I think she represents both sides with care.

I found it a fascinating read and certainly something I would recommend in a time when fear and ignorance are prominent in the way people react to a religion they don't necessarily understand.
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.The Wind is My Mother: The Life and Teachings of a Native American Shaman
City Travel Guides > Books > Social and Cultural
by: Bear Heart, Molly Larkin

February 01, 1998
This is the most wonderful book, I can't praise it enough. It really makes you think about what you do, and how you deal with things in your life.
I lent it to my daughter, and it really helped her put things in perspective. Bearheart is a wonderful person, and I would recommend this book to everybody.
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.The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies
City Travel Guides > Books > Social and Cultural
by: Christopher Scarre

June 06, 2005
This is the most wonderful book, I can't praise it enough. It really makes you think about what you do, and how you deal with things in your life.
I lent it to my daughter, and it really helped her put things in perspective. Bearheart is a wonderful person, and I would recommend this book to everybody.
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.The Songlines (Vintage Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Social and Cultural
by: Bruce Chatwin

November 28, 1998
This is a unique and unclassifiable book, part novel, part travel book, part notebook full of quotations and speculations. Chatwin focuses on the notion that language and human thought began in songs that sang the landscape and living things into existence. Aboriginal culture continues this tradition in songlines which are explored as living entities, maps, boundaries, calendars, catalogues, survival systems, myths. Chatwin says the ultimate question he is asking is, why are humans so restless? He argues that this is the ultimate human quality. We are nomadic in our core. He quotes a European tramp: "It's like the tides were pulling you along the highway. I'm like the Arctic tern, guv'nor...what flies from the North Pole to the South Pole and back again." This book doesn't ... Read More:
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.The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
City Travel Guides > Books > Social and Cultural
by: Barry Schwartz

February 01, 2005
Full of revelations and useful on any number of fronts; this seems to have been written as a self-help book with a long psychological build up and a fairly relaxed tail suggesting ways to implement the ideas, and as such the explanation of the problem is far more satisfying than the solutions.

It is being touted by some as the bible of a new movement in retailing and to the cold eye of the business person there are some elements which are very interesting, in terms of the provision of consumer choice, and with regards to framing market research, but if you fall into this category of reader, beware the underlying message, which is rather against the corporate ladder culture and towards the counting of blessings. It may help your marketeers understand the choices of consumers ... Read More:
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.Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
City Travel Guides > Books > Social and Cultural
by: John Monaghan, Peter Just

February 24, 2000
The authors manage, within severe space restrictions, to convey the essential features of their discipline, an outline of its history and development, and an indication of the philosophical and moral issues that it raises.

Monaghan's work with the Mixtec of Central America and Just's work with the Dou Donggo of Indonesia are used as sources for the anecdotal details that are used throughout the book to illustrate aspects of anthropology. This is very much a description of anthropology as a practical endeavour, a hands-on discipline whose theories are firmly grounded in the everyday lives of human beings.

Broader theoretical contexts, such as are found in Marxism or Structuralism, are touched on but no more. Those are the things you go on to read about after your appetite ... Read More:
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.An Introduction to Design and Culture: 1900 to the Present
City Travel Guides > Books > Social and Cultural
by: Penny Sparke

May 20, 2004
The authors manage, within severe space restrictions, to convey the essential features of their discipline, an outline of its history and development, and an indication of the philosophical and moral issues that it raises.

Monaghan's work with the Mixtec of Central America and Just's work with the Dou Donggo of Indonesia are used as sources for the anecdotal details that are used throughout the book to illustrate aspects of anthropology. This is very much a description of anthropology as a practical endeavour, a hands-on discipline whose theories are firmly grounded in the everyday lives of human beings.

Broader theoretical contexts, such as are found in Marxism or Structuralism, are touched on but no more. Those are the things you go on to read about after your appetite ... Read More:
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