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16 Best Anthropology Books

We analyzed 5+ expert sources, curated book lists, and recommendations from successful people to find the 16 best anthropology books according to the internet — not just one person's opinion. Each book on this list was mentioned by at least two independent sources, and the ranking is based on how frequently each title appears across all sources studied. This consensus-based approach ensures you get recommendations backed by multiple experts, not a single reviewer's bias.

Goal: Find the best Anthropology books according to the internet (not just one person's opinion).

Method:

  1. Search for "best anthropology books" and study the top 5+ pages.
  2. Add only the books mentioned 2+ times.
  3. Rank the results neatly here.

16 Best Anthropology Books

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1

Anthropology

Appreciating Human Diversity

by Conrad Phillip Kottak
2

Cultural Anthropology

Asking Questions About Humanity

by Robert L. Welsch
3

Purity and Danger

An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo

by Mary Douglas
4

Sapiens

A Brief History, Book 1

by Yuval Noah Harari

Also recommended by

32 people
  • Joe Rogan recommended this book
  • Bill Gates recommended this book
  • Naval Ravikant recommended this book
  • Lex Fridman recommended this book
  • Mark Zuckerberg recommended this book
  • Peter Attia recommended this book
  • +26

    More recommendations

    • Ashton Kutcher
      "The brainy book I seem to be sharing or talking about the most lately." - Ashton Kutcher
    • Whitney Cummings
      "A great book about [how] we’ve evolved and why we have anxiety." - Whitney Cummings
    • Richard Branson
      "I just love the style of his writing." - Richard Branson
    • Ray Dalio
      Ray Dalio mentioned this book on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast.
    • Vinod Khosla
      "A previous favorite." - Vinod Khosla
    • James Cameron
      "It explains human behavior and why we are the way we are in human civilization from soup to nuts. And I’ve read it now a couple of times. It’s a pretty astonishing book." - James Cameron
    • Demis Hassabis
      "There's not many times where I read a book and come out with 20 new ideas I hadn't thought about before, and [this book] made me think like that." - Demis Hassabis
    • Keith Rabois
      Keith Rabois recommended this book on a Medium blog post.
    • Daniel Ek
      "Both sobering and conservatively optimistic in equal measure." - Daniel Ek
    • Reid Hoffman
      "A grand theory of humanity." - Reid Hoffman
    • Sam Kass
      Sam Kass recommended this book in the "Tools of Titans" book.
    • Sebastian Junger
      "I’m going to give [this book] over and over again to everyone I know." - Sebastian Junger
    • Kishore Biyani
      "Fascinating because of its multi-disciplinary approach towards understanding human society, our behaviour and our future." - Kishore Biyani
    • Ryan Shea
      One of Ryan Shea's 4 answers to "what is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift?"
    • Melinda Gates
      Melinda Gates recommended this book on Likewise.com.
    • Bill Gurley
      "I really enjoyed [this book]." - Bill Gurley
    • Karlie Kloss
      "An amazing book on the beginning of humanity." - Karlie Kloss
    • Anthony Pompliano
      "[One of the] best books I read in 2017." - Anthony Pompliano
    • Changpeng Zhao
      "Gives me a greater perspective about how humans emerged and why we behave the way we do." - Changpeng Zhao
    • PewDiePie
      "Tells the major revolutions of human history." - PewDiePie
    • Patrick O'Shaughnessy
      "Provides a concise history of humankind and outlines why we have the psychology we do today." - Patrick O'Shaughnessy
    • Chris Evans
      "Truly mind-blowing. It’s changed the way I look at almost everything. I can’t endorse it enough." - Chris Evans
    • Simon Mayo
      "Love this book still." - Simon Mayo
    • Penn Jillette
      Penn Jillette mentioned this book in a New York Times interview.
    • Mark Manson
      Mark Manson recommended this book on his website.
    • James Clear
      "[One of] the 10 best nonfiction books of all-time." - James Clear
5

Guns, Germs, and Steel

The Fates of Human Societies

by Jared Diamond

Also recommended by

12 people
  • Joe Rogan recommended this book
  • Bill Gates recommended this book
  • Charlie Munger recommended this book
  • Simon Sinek recommended this book
  • Daniel Ek recommended this book
  • Jesse Williams recommended this book
  • +6

    More recommendations

    • Stewart Brand
      "The main [book by this author]." - Stewart Brand
    • Patrick Arnold
      "Gave a big eye opening on why certain people of the world are more advanced than others and behave a certain way, as opposed to just genetics and this person is smarter because of this or that." - Patrick Arnold
    • Jamie Dimon
      On Jamie Dimon's list of favorite books.
    • Margaret Atwood
      "Also does pandemics." - Margaret Atwood
    • Mark Manson
      Mark Manson recommended this book on his website.
    • James Clear
      "[One of] the 10 best nonfiction books of all-time." - James Clear
6

Debt

The First 5,000 Years

by David Graeber

Also recommended by

2 people
7

Almost Human

The Astonishing Tale of Homo Naledi and the Discovery That Changed Our Human Story

by Lee Berger
8

Anthropology & the Colonial Encounter

by Talal Asad
9

Beyond Culture

by Edward T. Hall
10

Crazy Like Us

The Globalization of the American Psyche

by Ethan Watters
11

Discipline and Punish

The Birth of the Prison

by Michel Foucault
12

Gods of the Upper Air

How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century

by Charles King
13

How to Read Ethnography

by Paloma Gay y Blasco
14

Imagined Communities

Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism

by Benedict Anderson
15

Language, Culture, and Society

An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology

by James Stanlaw
16

The Unfolding of Language

An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention

by Guy Deutscher

Sources

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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