Know-It-All Anthropology: The 50 Extraordinary Human Innovations and Events, Each Explained in Under a Minute

by Simon Underdown

An informative reference containing concise explanations for the major anthropological discoveries in human physical, cultural, and social history.Who are we? What is it about our species that sets us apart from every other living creature, past and present, on this planet?These are perennially compelling questions about human evolution and development that continue to cudgel the best brains on earth. Know-It-All Anthropology seeks to understand the roots of our common humanity, the diversity of cultures and world-views, and the organization of social relations and practices.If you only have under a minute, that is enough time—by reading this book—to meet the ancestors and master the basic ideas, personalities, controversies, and future directions of the study of humankind.The Know It All takes a revolutionary approach to learning about the subjects you really feel you should understand but have never gotten around to studying. Each book selects a popular topic and dissects it into the fifty most significant ideas at its heart. Each idea, no matter how complex, is explained in three hundred words and one picture, all digestible in under a minute.Other titles in this series Know It All Chemistry, Know It All Classical Music, Know It All Energy, Know It All Fashion, Know It All Great Inventions, Know It All Jazz, Know It All Medicine, Know It All Shakespeare, Know It All Whiskey, Know It All Wine, Space In 30 Seconds, Sports in 30 Seconds.

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology

151 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 3, 2018

About the author

Simon Undertown is Senior Lecturer in Biological Anthropology at Oxford Brookes University, where he teaches and researches on human evolution, the effect of the environment on humans, and the relationship between biology and culture. He has written For the Guardian on contemporary science issues and appears regularly on TV and radio discussing human evolution and anthropology.

Reviews

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is full of illustrations, covering every other page. Opposite the illustrations is a brief explanation of a principle of anthropology. I was really looking for social/cultural anthropology and hadn’t realized how wide a field it is, covering evolution and biology, which are kind of boring to me. (I’m Team Physical Sciences.) It’s a good introduction to the field, designed to be skimmable.

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[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this book. It is divided into 7 sections:

• Evolution
• Human Species
• Materials
• Socialization & Communications
• Migration
• Ideas
• Modern Peoples

Each section starts with a glossary of important terms based on the main concepts of that chapter and then goes into a deeper dive of the mail ideas of the overall section. The deeper dive includes a very layman’s terms brief overview of the idea and then to the sides of the overview it has several snippets sections regarding the origins, biographies of main contributors, and fun facts. Each section also has a more in-depth profile biography of someone who was instrumental to furthering that section and the main ideas in the section.

A few of my favorite things about this book are:

• The Evolution of Hominins chart with key events, species, and MYA. It very aptly shows how the species diverge something that I was very confused about during my bio anth class.
• The pictures and illustrations are beautiful and portray the idea intended.
• The summaries are an excellent overview of the idea that aren’t too lengthy but give enough accurate information to tickle the reader’s curiosity.

This book would be great for any school age children to foster more interest or adults that just want an overview of the main topics.

Thanks so much to Netgalley, the publishers, and the author for providing me with a copy for an honest review.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of a series of books that look into different study areas of science, Know It All: Anthropology is one of the latest installments in a series of books that gives a glimpse into a subject and does it really well.

Looking at different parts of Anthropology, this book is chunked down into different parts, including the human species and materials from there we have different topics all given in bite size form. Informative and concise these pages are really good but also connect really well to other topics in the book allowing for a more rounded understanding of the subject.

At the beginning of each chapter is a glossary of terms which is really useful in understanding the terms used in the book - this book is easy to get to grips with but the glossary allows for better understanding and these pages are useful. I also enjoy the double spread pages on different anthropologists, particular Margaret Mead, someone who I’ve admired for their work for some time - it’s a good way to know these people better.

A really great book to introduce you to a vast and complex topic, Know It All: Anthropology is a place to begin if you’re interested in this subject as it covers it all in a concise and easy to get way. Highly recommend.

(I received an ARC from NetGalley for a honest review).

[Rachelle (ReaderRachelle) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

I received this book for free from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I have always been fascinated by science of all kinds, name a discipline and I'll have looked into it; I took three separate science subjects during my final years in high school and I would have taken the other two if I had been allowed. I've been curious about anthropology since I first watched the TV series Bones and then read the first novel in the series the show was based off. As a result of my love and curiosity of all things science, there was not a whole heap of content in this book that I hadn't come across before.

While I think this is great resource for someone just discovering anthropology and wanting to know the basics quickly; this struggled to hold my attention. I think the major reason for the struggle was the lack of cohesion in writing style between contributors; some entries read like a very dry scientific paper or textbook while others felt more like a nonfiction book aimed at preteens. I have nothing against either style of writing but the disparity between the often left me struggling to adjust and the second I felt like I had fallen into the rhythm of the new entry, it was on to the next one and a switch again.

I'm not a huge fan of the formatting of this volume either, a few times I was convinced I'd already read an entry covering the same subject two chapters earlier and I often felt the more interesting aspects were glossed over. The glossaries between each chapter were very repetitive, something I also noticed in the previous instalment I read (Know It All Fashion), I think Homo Sapien was defined in 4 out of 7 glossaries and as a result some defintions didn't fit into the glossaries until after the chapter they appeared in. I think the glossaries in general would benefit for some re-organisation.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 2017, the book Know-It-All Anthropology: The 50 Most Important Ideas in Anthropology, Each Explained in Under a Minute was published. Simon Underdown edited the book. When Know-It-All Anthropology was published, Underwood was/is a “Senior Lecturer in Biological Anthropology at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom” (Underdown 156). Know-It-All Anthropology has 12 contributors (Underdown 156-157). Know-It-All Anthropology spends a page describing the anthropological concept in large print. The other page has a picture of the design of the mosaic of different pictures. Each page that describes each concept always has a section in the words of Underwood in the “introduction” (Underwood 6-9) called “the 3-minute descent places the idea in the wider context of being human, and the 3-second origin provides the essence of the idea in a single sentence” (Underwood 8). Most pages with an anthropological concept have a one-sentence biographical sketch of people, mainly anthropologist figures, that are related to the anthropological concept. The book is divided into seven sections. The first three sections are “Evolution” (Underdown 10), “The Human Species” (Underdown 30), and “Materials” (Underdown 54). This is followed by a section entitled “Socializations and Communications” (Underdown 70). The last three sections are “Migration” (Underdown 94), “Ideas” (Underdown 110), and finally “Modern Peoples” (Underdown 130). Each section has a glossary at the beginning of the section. The book includes a list of resources. Know-It-Anthropology does a good job of covering what the book that it does says on the cover.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son-in-law loves this series and now I know why! Know It All Anthropology is fascinating! I love everything about the book. It presents 50 of the most important ideas and concepts in 21st century anthropology in a very quick, readable and understandable way.

The 50 main ideas are grouped into 7 chapters: Evolution, The Human Species, Materials, Socialization and Communication, Migration, Ideas, and Modern Peoples. Each chapter begins with a glossary of terms, includes a nice biography of someone whose work was key to the contents of the chapter and describes the main points related to that chapter.

Each point has a main entry describing the point in detail, a 3-minute descent which places the idea in the wider context of being human, and a 3-second origin which sums up the idea in a single sentence. Also listed are related topics, a 3-second biography of someone key to that idea and a know expert on the idea.

I really enjoyed getting a wide-breadth of knowledge about the subject in small, understandable chunks. It made everything fall into place. I can only assume the other books in the Know it All series are as intriguing and well-done.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing for allowing me the privilege of reading an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you interested in learning about Anthropology? This book is a great way to learn more about this scientific subject. The book features the 50 most important ideas in Anthropology and explains each of them in under a minute.

The 50 main ideas are grouped into 7 part with a introduction. The ideas are Evolution, The Human Species, Materials, Socialization and Communication, Migration, Ideas, and Modern Peoples. Each subject starts off with a glossary so you are not totally lost when it comes to the scientific terms. There is a profile of one scientist in each of the groups. There is approximately 20 to 30 pages on each idea as well to give you a good understanding without over doing the idea or boring the reader.

This book is great for older kids as well as adults. Very informative and actually teaches you a lot.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.

[Andreea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was sent a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely love science/knowledge-type books that present the reader tidbits of information on different subjects. If you want more, you can always look for more, but this is short and on point what anthropology and different branches of it are all about - plus I really liked the collage images that were presented with each subject (I noticed this is a thing with this kind of science book in recent years, and I like it).

Now I do not know if all the things presented here make in the 50 top of most important ideas in anthropology, but you can make a rough idea about what anthropology does - although in my opinion it focused a bit too much on the early early days of homo sapiens and how we got to where we are, which gives the reader a nice base, but it does feel like it ignored more contemporary ideas.

Anyway, fun book, easy to understand and I learned quite a bit!

[Jiwon Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, it's a visually beautiful book. Secondly, it breaks down anthropology into bite size information that is not too overwhelming for beginners. Last but not least, it is filled with interesting facts that will make you rethink your understanding of society and evolution.

"Humans have spread across the world and our journey is recorded in our genes, leaving patterns of variation and adaption in both our biology and culture."

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting little handbook about anthropology and its most important scientists. If you know nothing about the topic, this book is an easy was to get to know the subject.

Interessante piccolo manuale sull'antropologia e sulle sue figure primarie. Se l'argomento vi é completamente sconosciuto, questo potrebbe essere un facile approccio.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was trying to figure out if I was more interested in anthropology or sociology. While I learned some cool things, I think my interest lies more in sociology. A quick read- each page about a different topic.

[Nikki Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read on several different topics within the broader Anthropology field. Great way to whet your appetite and fan the flames of an interest in Anthropology and the Humanities as a whole.

[Ruksana · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a previous sociology and philosophy student I was drawn to this book. A little like a revision lesson it explains the history of human kind in a very digestible way. Recommended.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

#KnowItAllAnthropology #NetGalley #KnowItAll

Once more, this new book of the collection Know It All is great. The book is an excellent introduction to Anthropology that can be used by college or university students starting on the domain of social sciences.

[Yicheng Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

-Netgalley Review-
9.7/10

I walked in reading this book with very few expectations; I have never read anything by author before, but I was interested in anthropology and how the author had intended to distill the key concepts, theories, and the figures behind the driving innovations and studies down into so,ething easily accessible. To be honest, I had my reservations about this book, and I am happy to report that I was wrong.

This book offers a sharp and comprehensive look into the nature of humanity, what happened, and what the future have in store for us as individuals and as a collective. The book offers a well-written anthropological perspective juxtaposed with philosophical and cultural context from history using brilliantly created graphics and a curated list of important figures within the field, and simple language. An interesting read that enriched my cultural landscape and my understanding of the field, which admittedly never extentded beyond hollywood shows surrounding forensic anthropology and some vague idea of what the field studies. The writing was not confusing nor is it filled with jargon, yet it conveys the expertise of the author and his intended message just fine.

An amazing read that I finished in less than a day due to the amazing writing and the intrinsic value offered by the book as it is easy to read and designed to be finished in a thirty-minute binge session. .

Would recommend to readers interested in looking to expand their knowledge and understanding about the achievements of humanity after we made it this far, philosophy in relation humans, and/or just a good look at what anthropology is all about. Admittedly, it is a more obscure field of study when comparing it to physics or even other social sciences like psychology, but it is well worth the time to find out. This is an enriching read that offer sharp insights regardless of your level of knowledge and is bound to fascinate. Would highly recommend this book.

[Alicia Still · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting read and knowledgable. I would recommend this book to anyone who is curious about anthropology

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of quick reads like this! Great for an intro to all you need to know about anthropology. And the book blurb didn't lie, I was able to read it in just over an hour. This book really does tell you a little bit of everything. From evolution to migration to modern people, I learned something about everything. I think it would make a perfect gift for anyone who has an interest in the topic, and would like a little more information.

I have received a much appreciated digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Know It All books they have books on many topics that help you grow your knowledge, and the Anthropology one was my favorite. I've always loved and been interested in anthropology, this book helps you learn more bout the history of humans and the bones. Anthropology is a vast and complex topic and this book is a great place to begin learning about the history of humans. I for one have always been a fan of Kathy Reichs, reading her books was my first introduction to anthropology and I've grown from there and I'm glad that they're putting educational books out on the topic.