≡ Read Free Affluence Without Abundance What We Can Learn from the World Most Successful Civilisation James Suzman 9781632865724 Books

Affluence Without Abundance What We Can Learn from the World Most Successful Civilisation James Suzman 9781632865724 Books

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Affluence Without Abundance What We Can Learn from the World Most Successful Civilisation James Suzman 9781632865724 Books

I met some of the 'San' people recently , admittedly in a touristic setting, having long since forgotten Laurens Van Der Post's writing.
The San came across as cheerful, funny, genuine, very in touch with their environment - I left very impressed. My wife says I fell in love with them -
many have it seems.
They are not 'primitive' people.
James captures this beautifully - with historical background, overview of their history, problems caused by interaction with other cultures and hilarious anecdotes every now and then - where the San get their own back at white farmers & Herero people.
James makes the point well that their way of life is very longstanding - our 'recorded history' is not much more than a blink of an eye by comparison.
Study of the diet of San has been one of the triggers for interest in 'Paleo' food - fairly high on meat and while the San do not get as much exercise as you would imagine they are fit and relatively disease free - this is yet to be explained.
When they switch to a more western way of life and diet they succumb to the usual medical problems - diabetes, obesity, etc

I will explore the suggested reading list at the back of the book.


Tags : Affluence Without Abundance: What We Can Learn from the World's Most Successful Civilisation [James Suzman] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>“Insightful and well-written . . . [Suzman chronicles] how much humankind can still learn from the disappearing way of life of the most marginalized communities on earth.”</b> ―<b>Yuval Noah Harari,James Suzman,Affluence Without Abundance: What We Can Learn from the World's Most Successful Civilisation,Bloomsbury USA,1632865726,Africa - South - General,Anthropology - Cultural & Social,San (African people),San (African people);Africa, Southern.,San (African people);Africa, Southern;Cultural assimilation.,San (African people);Africa, Southern;Social conditions;21st century.,South Africa - History,100301 Bloomsbury US Adult HC,Africa South General,African,CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY,GENERAL,General Adult,HISTORY Africa South General,HistoryAfrica - South - General,Non-Fiction,SOCIAL SCIENCE Anthropology Cultural & Social,SOUTHERN AFRICA - HISTORY,Social Science,Sociology,South Africa,Southern Africa,United States,South African bushmen; Ju’hoansi and Ethnograpy; Ju’hoansi and Anthropology; Ju’hoansi; Ju’ hoansi; Ju’ hoansi bushmen; Eastern Namibian bushmen; Khoasan languages; Kalahari Bushmen; Kalahari Desert; Resettlement farms and South Africa; South African ethnography; South African foraging communities; Ethnographic memoir; Ethnography and Memoir; Anthropology and Bushmen; Bush men; South Africa and Bushmen; Southern Africa and Bushmen; modern-day hunter-gatherers; nomadic pastoralism and Southern African; Globalization and the South African Bushmen; Globalization and the Ju’hoansi; South African Nomads; Nomads in Modernity; History of Nomadism; Human History and Nomads; 21st Century hunter gatherers,South African bushmen; Ju'hoansi and Ethnograpy; Ju'hoansi and Anthropology; Ju'hoansi; Ju' hoansi; Ju' hoansi bushmen; Eastern Namibian bushmen; Khoasan languages; Kalahari Bushmen; Kalahari Desert; Resettlement farms and South Africa; South African ethnography; South African foraging communities; Ethnographic memoir; Ethnography and Memoir; Anthropology and Bushmen; Bush men; South Africa and Bushmen; Southern Africa and Bushmen; modern-day hunter-gatherers; nomadic pastoralism and Southern African; Globalization and the South African Bushmen; Globalization and the Ju'hoansi; South African Nomads; Nomads in Modernity; History of Nomadism; Human History and Nomads; 21st Century hunter gatherers

Affluence Without Abundance What We Can Learn from the World Most Successful Civilisation James Suzman 9781632865724 Books Reviews

I haven't had time to read the entire book, but I'm delighted with Suzman's writing. He has written a very readable, interesting book on these bushmen and what they are experiencing as the modern world (so sadly) encroaches on their once-excellent lifestyle.
This is one of the books that are really capable to help you to get an actual perspective on the whole civilization we all are part of.

Without such vivid example of how else it’s possible to build a viable and robust community that is not based on material values it’s simply impossible to understand what might be wrong with the way we live.

I don’t advocate for all of us, all seven plus billion, to drop the
civilization and move into the desert to live as hunter-gathers but the book is full of great tidbits of what we might borrow from them. Read it carefully and take notes.
Fascinating blend of anthropology, ethnology, political science, and economics. Exactly the kind of thinking we need to engage in these days. There are intimations of a way forward through our current conundrums by drawing upon the history of human development.
This is a completely absorbing, very well written exposition on the author’s very unique experience.
The most powerful aspect of this book for me was the clear, forceful argument it makes for the interdependence of the ethical, cultural, economic, and ecological beliefs we develop, and how our destiny as a species is dictated by the accommodations we make to support and justify our way of life. Frankly, the implications it holds are not good. We are on a dangerous, unsustainable course that will be very difficult to alter without a catastrophic reckoning of some sort. It isn’t comforting. It is thought-provoking.
It is worth anyone’s time.
This is an enjoyable read. The research the author has done is excellent. I like that there are places and people in this world that survive with less than we westerners consume. I will be reading this again in the future.
I found much to think about in this book and particularly enjoyed the first half. As the book progressed, I still found a lot of interesting concepts, anthropology and history, but I felt the book meandered. I lost track of the point of the book. It covered a lot of diverse issues relative to the Bushmen and then tried, in its last pages, to wrap everything up in a neat package. Still, I would definitely recommend it for readers interested in south Africa and anthropology.
This is a very informative book and, at the same time, one that is easy and enjoyable to read. Suzman's main thesis is that the San, or Bushmen (or, to use his click-sensitive term, the Ju'/hoansi) were traditional hunting-gathering people whose environment provided them with all they needed to survive. They owned no more property than they could carry and yet they felt no need to acquire more than what they had - hence, affluence without abundance.

This point has been made by other anthropologists, but Suzman makes it particularly well. His book also brings us up to date about current San circumstances and the picture he draws is not at all pretty. As the fingers of the urban-industrial world have groped their way into the once barely accessible back country of southern Africa, most of the more or less contented nomadic San have been become marginalized and demoralized.

I say "more or less" contented San because, as the author makes clear, the well-known egalitarianism of these people was sustained not only by an ethic of sharing, but also by readily expressed jealousy. It's hard to accumulate wealth when all around you are accusing you of being a selfish, anti-social jerk.

I have read quite a few accounts of the San, but this is the best I have read in quite a while, and certainly the most informative about relatively recent social changes. And it is full of thought-provoking observations. One that I remember particularly well is that our genetic selves may have evolved in the Paleolithic hunting-gathering context, but much of our current way of thinking and behaving is rooted in our more recent Neolithic past, when our ancestors took to plant cultivation and animal domestication.
I met some of the 'San' people recently , admittedly in a touristic setting, having long since forgotten Laurens Van Der Post's writing.
The San came across as cheerful, funny, genuine, very in touch with their environment - I left very impressed. My wife says I fell in love with them -
many have it seems.
They are not 'primitive' people.
James captures this beautifully - with historical background, overview of their history, problems caused by interaction with other cultures and hilarious anecdotes every now and then - where the San get their own back at white farmers & Herero people.
James makes the point well that their way of life is very longstanding - our 'recorded history' is not much more than a blink of an eye by comparison.
Study of the diet of San has been one of the triggers for interest in 'Paleo' food - fairly high on meat and while the San do not get as much exercise as you would imagine they are fit and relatively disease free - this is yet to be explained.
When they switch to a more western way of life and diet they succumb to the usual medical problems - diabetes, obesity, etc

I will explore the suggested reading list at the back of the book.