Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book

Best Popular Anthropology Books on Goodreads

For purposes of this list, only include books with over 999 ratings and shelved at least 30 times as anthropology.

Anything with less than 1000 ratings or shelved less than 30 times as anthropology will be removed and without comment.

See also:
Popular Archaeology and Paleoanthropology
Good Ethnography
Forensic Anthropology

Related Lists By Topic:
All, Anthropology, Astronomy, Autobiography, Biography, Biology, Botany, Children, Classics, Climate, Computer Science, Economics, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Genetics, Geology, Geography, Graphic Novels, History, Historical Fiction, Horror, Judaism, Language, Manga, Medicine, Middle School, Military Science Fiction, Music, Mysteries, Nature, New Adult, Non-Fiction, Pagan, Pandemic, Philosophy, Picture Books, Poetry, Politics, Productivity, Psychology, Racism, Romance, Science, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Software Architecture, Space Opera, Steampunk, Travel, Young Adult
1

by
4.04 avg rating — 472,501 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.32 avg rating — 1,327,371 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
3.94 avg rating — 75,641 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.21 avg rating — 28,380 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.21 avg rating — 435,406 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.29 avg rating — 48,473 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.16 avg rating — 25,805 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.21 avg rating — 91,058 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.05 avg rating — 98,214 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.26 avg rating — 54,650 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.15 avg rating — 2,891 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.01 avg rating — 36,982 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.06 avg rating — 248,541 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.11 avg rating — 287,927 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.39 avg rating — 2,313 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.28 avg rating — 2,092 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.18 avg rating — 5,614 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.19 avg rating — 28,780 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.98 avg rating — 119,321 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.31 avg rating — 85,710 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.90 avg rating — 115,566 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.20 avg rating — 4,474 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.05 avg rating — 1,752 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.30 avg rating — 239,867 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.21 avg rating — 7,429 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.18 avg rating — 295,722 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.23 avg rating — 3,653 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.14 avg rating — 8,579 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.30 avg rating — 3,242 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.19 avg rating — 889,943 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
3.90 avg rating — 288,132 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.87 avg rating — 110,388 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.02 avg rating — 3,664 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
4.17 avg rating — 4,327 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.92 avg rating — 5,397 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.93 avg rating — 4,108 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.12 avg rating — 46,274 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.12 avg rating — 3,295 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.19 avg rating — 4,426 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
3.87 avg rating — 157,665 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.12 avg rating — 21,587 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.02 avg rating — 4,370 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
4.14 avg rating — 4,332 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.94 avg rating — 1,068 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.14 avg rating — 31,387 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
4.01 avg rating — 124,540 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.93 avg rating — 65,016 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.75 avg rating — 1,904 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.94 avg rating — 1,559 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.55 avg rating — 3,274 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
3.97 avg rating — 32,189 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.79 avg rating — 3,369 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.93 avg rating — 46,061 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
4.06 avg rating — 1,455 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.12 avg rating — 19,136 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.19 avg rating — 69,182 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.06 avg rating — 9,437 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.01 avg rating — 22,750 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.15 avg rating — 29,022 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.27 avg rating — 2,100 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.76 avg rating — 1,483 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.90 avg rating — 3,952 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.88 avg rating — 4,188 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
4.19 avg rating — 212,326 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.86 avg rating — 4,742 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.15 avg rating — 29,996 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.19 avg rating — 21,832 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.74 avg rating — 1,592 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
3.96 avg rating — 12,778 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
4.23 avg rating — 38,374 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
4.15 avg rating — 1,569 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.37 avg rating — 9,807 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
4.09 avg rating — 25,653 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.17 avg rating — 7,810 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.22 avg rating — 4,174 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.11 avg rating — 17,016 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.15 avg rating — 54,824 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
4.04 avg rating — 29,893 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
4.10 avg rating — 6,591 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.14 avg rating — 6,372 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.13 avg rating — 2,355 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.18 avg rating — 1,820 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.13 avg rating — 1,491 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
3.86 avg rating — 1,601 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.09 avg rating — 29,066 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.28 avg rating — 2,598 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.93 avg rating — 3,843 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.06 avg rating — 1,715 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.26 avg rating — 106,141 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
4.10 avg rating — 102,678 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.02 avg rating — 50,936 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.79 avg rating — 1,340 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.22 avg rating — 2,229 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,811 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.55 avg rating — 2,451 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.10 avg rating — 5,518 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.85 avg rating — 4,367 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.95 avg rating — 1,093 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.82 avg rating — 1,672 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.05 avg rating — 34,108 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
322 books · 53 voters · list created December 20th, 2015 by Mitchell Friedman (votes) .
134 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Mitchell 11236 books
171 friends
Loreley 4477 books
575 friends
Clare 8851 books
348 friends
Shona 871 books
64 friends
Libby 10285 books
63 friends
Peter 7379 books
363 friends
Paul 2168 books
4 friends
Joao 1577 books
4 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Lulu (new)

Lulu I am a recent anthropology graduate and I think that this list is superb.


message 2: by Mitchell (last edited Aug 18, 2018 08:37PM) (new)

Mitchell Friedman Lucinda wrote: "I am a recent anthropology graduate and I think that this list is superb."

I'm glad you appreciate it. I haven't checked /shelf/show/anthropology in awhile. Hopefully there are additional books that could be added to this list as well.


message 3: by Mitchell (last edited May 22, 2024 10:27AM) (new)

Mitchell Friedman I increased the minimum number of shelves of anthropology from 10 to 30. And also removed the restriction on being nonfiction. This will limit the possible books to 440 as of 2024-05-21. Currently this list has 302 books. And I was able to add 60 books. So as of 2024-05-22 it is 362.


message 4: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman ✅ Books that should be ADDED (Meet criteria on shelf): Structural Anthropology (Paperback) and Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society (updated with a new preface) and Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande (Paperback) and Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art (Hardcover) and How Forests Think: Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human (Paperback) and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (Hardcover) and Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity (Paperback) and Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (Hardcover) and The Innocent Anthropologist: Notes from a Mud Hut (Paperback) and Righteous Dopefiend (Paperback) and A Death in the Rainforest: How a Language and a Way of Life Came to an End in Papua New Guinea (Hardcover) and Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI (Hardcover) and Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject (Paperback) and Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life (Hardcover) and The World Before Us: How Science is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins (Kindle Edition) and Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains (Hardcover) and The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution (Hardcover) and Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global (Hardcover) and Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism (Hardcover) and First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human (ebook) and Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (Paperback) and Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation (Paperback) and Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know (Hardcover) and Grave Secrets (Temperance Brennan, #5) and Ancestors: A History of Britain in Seven Burials (Hardcover) and Underland: A Deep Time Journey (Paperback) and The Democracy Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement (Hardcover) and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory (Paperback) and Culture and Imperialism (Paperback) and Cave of Bones: A True Story of Discovery, Adventure, and Human Origins (Hardcover) and Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist (Hardcover) and Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization (Hardcover) and The Left Hand of Darkness (Paperback) and The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business (Kindle Edition) and Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (Paperback) and The Scapegoat (Paperback) and I See Satan Fall Like Lightning (Paperback) and Myth and Reality (Religious Traditions of the World) and The Invention of Yesterday: A 50,000-Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and Connection (Hardcover) and Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi (Penguin Library of American Indian History)


message 5: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman ❌ Books that should be REMOVED (Not found in top 25 shelf pages or below threshold): Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization and Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto and People of the Deer and The Eagle's Gift and The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do and The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures and The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality and The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World and The Second Ring of Power and Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species and The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge and Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution and Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England and My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student and Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals and Masculine Domination and The Trouble with Testosterone and Other Essays on the Biology of the Human Predicament and Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body and The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change and A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster and The Last Days of the Incas and The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850 and The Island of the Colorblind and The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War and Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions and The Meme Machine and The Division of Labor in Society and Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets and Subculture: The Meaning of Style and Plagues and Peoples and Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience and What Makes Us Human and Geisha and The Culture of Make Believe and Next of Kin: My Conversations with Chimpanzees and Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years With a Midwife in Mali and The Masks of God, Volume 2: Oriental Mythology and Teasing Secrets from the Dead: My Investigations at America's Most Infamous Crime Scenes and Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble and A Brief History of Neoliberalism and Metaphors We Live By and American Indian Myths and Legends and Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity and The Immense Journey and Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World and God: A Human History and The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human and Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There and The History of White People and Tales of Power and In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build a Perfect Language and Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny and The Foucault Reader and Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science and Class: A Guide Through the American Status System and The Creation of Patriarchy and The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property and Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved and War! What Is It Good For?: Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots and Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind and Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes and The Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist and Course in General Linguistics and Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977 and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals and The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us and The Marsh Arabs and Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England and Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology and A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies and Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island and Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life and In an Antique Land and Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East and Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous


back to top