Why Nothing Works: The Anthropology of Daily Life
Jan 2011 · Sold by Simon and Schuster
5.0star
1 review
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224
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About this ebook
From cults to crime to porno parlors—this book is about a lot of things that are new and strange in America today.
This book is about cults, crime, and shoddy goods, and the shrinking dollar. It's about porno parlors, and sex shops, and men kissing in the streets. It's about daughters shaking up, women on the rampage, marriages postponed, divorces on the rise, and no one having kids. It's about old ladies getting mugged and raped, people shoved in front of trains, and shoot-outs at gas pumps. And letters that take weeks to get delivered, waiters who throw food at you, rude sales help, and computers that bill you for things you never bought. It's about broken benches, waterless fountains, cracked windows, dirty toilets, crater-filled roads, graffiti-covered buildings, slashed paintings, toppled statues, stolen books. It's about shoelaces that break in a week, bulbs that keep burning out, pens that won't write, cars that rust, stamps that don't stick, stitches that don't hold, buttons that pop off, zippers that jam, planes that lose their engines, reactors that leak, dams that burst, roofs that collapse... It's about astrologers, shamans, exorcists, witches, and angels in space suits... It's about a lot of other things that are new and strange in America today.
—from the Introduction
This book is about cults, crime, and shoddy goods, and the shrinking dollar. It's about porno parlors, and sex shops, and men kissing in the streets. It's about daughters shaking up, women on the rampage, marriages postponed, divorces on the rise, and no one having kids. It's about old ladies getting mugged and raped, people shoved in front of trains, and shoot-outs at gas pumps. And letters that take weeks to get delivered, waiters who throw food at you, rude sales help, and computers that bill you for things you never bought. It's about broken benches, waterless fountains, cracked windows, dirty toilets, crater-filled roads, graffiti-covered buildings, slashed paintings, toppled statues, stolen books. It's about shoelaces that break in a week, bulbs that keep burning out, pens that won't write, cars that rust, stamps that don't stick, stitches that don't hold, buttons that pop off, zippers that jam, planes that lose their engines, reactors that leak, dams that burst, roofs that collapse... It's about astrologers, shamans, exorcists, witches, and angels in space suits... It's about a lot of other things that are new and strange in America today.
—from the Introduction
Ratings and reviews
5.0
1 review
Chris Edgar
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August 2, 2015
I found the book rather insightful. In answer to another reviewer who described the book as speculative, I think part of Harris's point is that the conventional wisdom on a lot of these issues is often itself highly speculative, albeit authoritatively so. Harris raises a lot of points from a mature and scientifically-minded perspective well worth the time and consideration.
About the author
Marvin Harris is the author of sixteen books, among them Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches; Cannibals and Kings; and The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig. He was previously chairman of the Anthropology Department at Colombia University and Graduate Research Professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida. Harris passed away in October of 2001, shortly after retiring.
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