Most of the books that contributed to the formulation of my ideas were read long before I had any thought of writing a book. They were read not as “research,” but to satisfy my own personal need for answers; this being the case, it didn’t occur to me to keep a log of them.
I’ve been a subscriber to Scientific American for decades, for example, and routinely read the articles that appear there on a regular basis about human evolution, tribal societies, and the origin and spread of agriculture. Among the hundreds of books I’ve consulted over the years, many just expanded my general knowledge (of the hunting-gathering lifestyle, for example) without contributing any particular bolt of enlightenment.
Some were just basic reference works, like The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History, by Colin McEvedy, and Past Worlds: The Times Atlas of Archaeology. The few books that DID contribute particular bolts of enlightenment can be found among those on the Suggested Reading list here on the website:  Farley Mowat’s People of the Deer, Jean Liedloff’s The Continuum Concept, Peter Farb’s, Man’s Rise to Civilization, Marshall Sahlins’ Stone Age Economics, and Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene.
ID: 499
posted: 14 Nov 2000
updated: 14 Nov 2000
