Filled with current examples, THE ESSENCE OF ANTHROPOLOGY brings to life anthropology's key concepts and their great relevance to today's complex world. You'll learn about the varied ways culture helps humans adapt to face the challenges of existence, the connection between human culture and human biology, and the impact of globalization on peoples and cultures around the world. Furthermore, the book is packed with learning tools that demonstrate major concepts, offer interesting examples of anthropology's relevance to daily life, and guide your study to help you retain what you read.
This was the textbook I used for my Anth 1000 course. It gives a great overview of general anthropology and is easily readable in one semester (for those 2 students who actually do all the reading!). The only thing I would add is a little more history of anthropology - preferably a whole chapter.
For a general overview of the fields of Anthropology, this is a good starting place. Each chapter is detailed in the subjects it talks about. From evolutionary, to cultural, to physical, to even fields of Archaeology.
One of the best things about it is that tries not to inject personal politics into it. It places things like Evolution & Paleoanthropology in separate chapters from Religion. Understanding this a separate things despite politics & religion becoming part of that discussion at times.
Overall, for an introduction I would give it a go.
This book is an easy read with some very interesting asides in the "Bio-cultural connection" sections. The reviewer who simply didn't like his anthropology class most likely didn't even read this book.