The Other Side of Eden: Hunters, Farmers, and the Shaping of the World, (Paperback)

Publishers Weekly,Author, anthropologist and documentary filmmaker Brody offers a fascinating if sometimes digressive glimpse inside the world's vanishing hunter-gatherer cultures. Drawing on nearly three decades of experience living and working in indigenous societies from the high Arctic to the Kalahari, he challenges traditional assumptions and serves as a passionate advocate for hunter-gatherer societies. Brody argues convincingly that farmers are the true nomads, forced to continually break, transform and control new ground, while hunter-gatherers tend to stay rooted in one place for centuries, carefully balancing needs and resources and flourishing because of a sophisticated blend of detailed knowledge and intuition. Brody also demonstrates a deeply held commitment to respectful, egalitarian relationships among people in hunter-gatherer societies. Particularly captivating are his firsthand observations of the Inuit in the high Arctic, with whom he traveled and studied extensively. Less compelling is a protracted and often confusing effort to demonstrate that the book of Genesis provides a mythic rationale for the farming culture that now dominates most of the world. Wide-ranging references to linguistic, sociological and historical theories enable Brody to make connections between hunter-gatherer societies separated by time and distance. In so doing, he convincingly dispels the notion that such societies are more primitive than our own; indeed, he sees evidence of the "hunter-gatherer mind" in the urban world's visionaries, artists, speculative scientists and others who choose freedom over certainty. Yet by the end, he makes a compelling case for respecting both cultures' unique place. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved,Publishers Weekly,Publishers Weekly,Author, anthropologist and documentary filmmaker Brody offers a fascinating if sometimes digressive glimpse inside the world's vanishing hunter-gatherer cultures. Drawing on nearly three decades of experience living and working in indigenous societies from the high Arctic to the Kalahari, he challenges traditional assumptions and serves as a passionate advocate for hunter-gatherer societies. Brody argues convincingly that farmers are the true nomads, forced to continually break, transform and control new ground, while hunter-gatherers tend to stay rooted in one place for centuries, carefully balancing needs and resources and flourishing because of a sophisticated blend of detailed knowledge and intuition. Brody also demonstrates a deeply held commitment to respectful, egalitarian relationships among people in hunter-gatherer societies. Particularly captivating are his firsthand observations of the Inuit in the high Arctic, with whom he traveled and studied extensively. Less compelling is a protracted and often confusing effort to demonstrate that the book of Genesis provides a mythic rationale for the farming culture that now dominates most of the world. Wide-ranging references to linguistic, sociological and historical theories enable Brody to make connections between hunter-gatherer societies separated by time and distance. In so doing, he convincingly dispels the notion that such societies are more primitive than our own; indeed, he sees evidence of the "hunter-gatherer mind" in the urban world's visionaries, artists, speculative scientists and others who choose freedom over certainty. Yet by the end, he makes a compelling case for respecting both cultures' unique place. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved