Officer, book me! Uh, I mean, bookmeme.

I'm sorry, sometimes I don't have a good excuse for subject lines like that.

Tagged by Rik.

1. Grab the book closest to you.


2. Open to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence.


3. Post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog.


4. Name the book and the author.


5. Tag three people.

Sorry, but isn't very frothy (and I know you come here for frothy things like poodle anus pimples and hypnotic squirrels and rhinestone caps), but the book closest to me was The Other Side of Eden: Hunters, Farmers, and the Shaping of the World by Hugh Brody.


It's a book I've been reading on and off for months, (usually on the bus to and from work) because I like the north and am interested in First Nations issues and like thinking about these things. So here goes:

The first of these essays, "The Original Affluent Society," summarized the main discoveries emerging from anthropological field work: with small populations, low levels of need and expertise in a particular landscape, human beings could eat well, enjoy much leisure and evidence great health of body and mind. The central stereotype of human social evolution was more than contested and undermined: it was turned on its head.

Yet these new insights into hunter-gatherers, for all their force and authority, did not transform debates about land rights and claims; nor did they secure new kinds of assessments by the courts.

I tag the fabulous Isoglossia. And since I live in a dream world, I also tag Stuntmother and Erin (two strangers whose blogs I read).