Marginal Revolution Book Rankings

Tyler and Alex's favorites from Marginal Revolution

How it works: I scraped every post categorized under 'books'. Then extracted book titles and relevant review context from each post. I then submitted a couple million pairs of reviews to an LLM to compare and determine which book review had more positive sentiment. I used these comparisons to fit a Bradley-Terry model which produces these rankings. I racked up a gemini bill so stopped shy of exhaustive 16 million comparisons, so it's not perfect, but roughly accurate.

Genre: Anthropology ×
Showing 81 books in Anthropology
The Conflict Shoreline: Colonization as Climate Change in the Negev Desert
1. The Conflict Shoreline: Colonization as Climate Change in the Negev Desert
BT: 13.15 160 comparisons
anthropology architectural studies climate change conflict studies +12
MR Post
Chief Culture Officer
2. Chief Culture Officer
BT: 8.73 202 comparisons
anthropology business culture studies management +1
MR Post
W
3. WTF?!
BT: 5.75 132 comparisons
anthropology economics history social science
MR Post
T
4. The Indo-Europeans Rediscovered: How a Scientific Revolution is Rewriting Their Story
BT: 5.45 115 comparisons
anthropology archaeology historical linguistics history +1
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T
5. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia
BT: 4.93 138 comparisons
anarchism anthropology history political economy +4
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M
6. Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science and Survival in the Congo
BT: 4.23 160 comparisons
african studies anthropology biology fieldwork +6
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T
7. The Silo Effect: The Peril of Expertise and the Promise of Breaking Down Barriers
BT: 4.22 185 comparisons
anthropology business economics management +2
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T
8. The Third Chimpanzee
BT: 4.05 195 comparisons
anthropology biology history human evolution +1
MR Post
C
9. Claude Lévi-Strauss: The Poet in the Laboratory
BT: 3.82 206 comparisons
anthropology biography french studies intellectual history
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T
10. The Great Divide: Nature and Human Nature in the Old World and the New
BT: 3.34 175 comparisons
anthropology cultural history environmental history history +2
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H
11. How Cooking Made Us Human
BT: 3.18 222 comparisons
anthropology biology food history human evolution +2
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T
12. The Slain God: Anthropologists and the Christian Faith
BT: 2.81 221 comparisons
anthropology british history history intellectual history +2
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S
13. Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland
BT: 2.69 249 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies ethnography irish studies +4
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R
14. Rituals of Dinner
BT: 2.65 203 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies psychology social commentary +1
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I
15. In Praise of Floods
BT: 2.50 228 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies ecology environmental philosophy +4
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D
16. Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil
BT: 2.25 292 comparisons
anthropology brazilian studies conflict studies economics +3
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T
17. The Statues That Walked
BT: 2.08 265 comparisons
anthropology archaeology environmental history history +2
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H
18. High: A Journey Across the Himalaya Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, and China
BT: 2.05 478 comparisons
anthropology asian studies history politics +1
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19. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
BT: 1.89 438 comparisons
american history anthropology history pre-columbian history +1
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T
20. Two Arabs, a Berber, and a Jew
BT: 1.75 285 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies morocco north african studies +1
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D
21. Darwin’s Unfinished Symphony: How Culture Made the Human Mind
BT: 1.54 329 comparisons
anthropology biology cognitive science cultural evolution +3
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D
22. Debt
BT: 1.37 302 comparisons
anthropology economic history economics history +1
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U
23. Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism
BT: 1.21 290 comparisons
anthropology health psychology social science
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T
24. The Old Way: A Story of the First People
BT: 1.13 289 comparisons
african studies anthropology cultural studies ethnography +2
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T
25. The Secret of Success
BT: 1.07 294 comparisons
anthropology evolutionary science psychology science
MR Post
A
26. Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States
BT: 1.06 505 comparisons
agricultural history ancient history anthropology economic history +3
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U
27. Ultra Society: how 10,000 years of war made humans the greatest cooperators on earth
BT: 1.04 326 comparisons
anthropology history human evolution military history +2
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T
28. The Horse The Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppe Shaped the Modern World
BT: 0.98 291 comparisons
ancient history anthropology archaeology cultural history +3
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H
29. How to Think Like an Anthropologist
BT: 0.90 275 comparisons
anthropology social science
MR Post
A
30. An Economic Tour of the Weird: WTF?!
BT: 0.64 320 comparisons
anthropology cultural economics economics history +1
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L
31. Lineages of Modernity: A History of Humanity from the Stone Age to Homo Americanus
BT: 0.42 378 comparisons
anthropology demography history political science +2
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T
32. Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
BT: 0.39 346 comparisons
anthropology non-fiction politics psychology +2
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T
33. The Singing Neanderthals
BT: 0.27 324 comparisons
anthropology evolutionary psychology music prehistory +1
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C
34. Collapse: How Societies Choose or Fail to Succeed
BT: 0.22 622 comparisons
anthropology environmental studies history social science +1
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T
35. The Secret of Our Success: How Culture is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making us Smarter
BT: 0.22 368 comparisons
anthropology biology cultural evolution evolutionary biology +2
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S
36. Sapiens
BT: 0.12 364 comparisons
anthropology economics evolution history +3
MR Post
T
37. Two Tales of Crow and Sparrow: A Freudian Folkloristic Essay on Caste and Untouchability
BT: 0.09 380 comparisons
anthropology folklore psychoanalysis psychology +3
MR Post
T
38. The Culture Code
BT: -0.06 350 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies non-fiction sociology
MR Post
N
39. Not a Chimp: The Hunt to Find the Genes that Make Us Human
BT: -0.12 373 comparisons
anthropology biology evolutionary biology genetics +1
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V
40. Violence and the Sacred
BT: -0.31 358 comparisons
anthropology philosophy religious studies sociology
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T
41. Theatre of Envy
BT: -0.32 1079 comparisons
anthropology literary criticism philosophy psychology +2
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H
42. Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class
BT: -0.39 408 comparisons
anthropology behavioral genetics biology evolutionary biology +5
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N
43. Noble Savages: My Life Among Two Dangerous Tribes — the Yanomamo and the Anthropologists
BT: -0.55 358 comparisons
anthropology cultural anthropology ethnography history of anthropology +2
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T
44. Transformations: Identity Construction in Contemporary Culture
BT: -0.68 397 comparisons
anthropology cultural anthropology cultural studies marketing +1
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T
45. The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman
BT: -0.70 485 comparisons
anthropology indigenous studies memoir south american culture +1
MR Post MR Post
D
46. Discover Your Inner Economist
BT: -0.70 5751 comparisons
anthropology behavioral economics economics popular economics +1
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M
47. Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts
BT: -0.77 430 comparisons
anthropology art history cultural history history +5
MR Post MR Post
T
48. The WEIRDEST People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
BT: -0.79 459 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies economic history history +4
MR Post MR Post
B
49. Between Ape and Human: An Anthropologist on the Trail of a Hidden Humanoid
BT: -0.79 386 comparisons
anthropology cryptozoology human evolution science
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K
50. Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art
BT: -0.86 513 comparisons
anthropology archaeology human evolution non-fiction +2
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T
51. Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World
BT: -0.88 402 comparisons
anthropology literary theory philosophy religious studies +2
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P
52. Poor People
BT: -0.92 353 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies non-fiction poverty studies +3
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D
53. Debt: The First 5,000 Years
BT: -1.07 787 comparisons
anthropology economic anthropology economic history economics +3
MR Post MR Post
G
54. Guns, Germs, Steel
BT: -1.07 630 comparisons
anthropology civilizational history economic history economics +5
MR Post MR Post +1 more
N
55. Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People
BT: -1.18 400 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies history ireland +5
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N
56. Northern Protestants on Shifting Ground
BT: -1.32 387 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies history irish history +5
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B
57. Becoming Human: A Theory of Ontogeny
BT: -1.34 761 comparisons
anthropology cognitive science developmental psychology evolutionary psychology +1
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F
58. Father Time: A Natural History of Men and Babies
BT: -1.38 395 comparisons
anthropology biology evolutionary biology gender studies +2
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L
59. Let Our Fame be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus
BT: -1.72 373 comparisons
anthropology caucasus studies cultural studies non-fiction +1
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T
60. The World Until Yesterday: What We Can Learn from Traditional Societies?
BT: -1.73 394 comparisons
anthropology cultural anthropology ethnography history +2
MR Post
J
61. Jared Diamond on sexual selection
BT: -2.06 365 comparisons
anthropology biology evolutionary biology non-fiction +1
MR Post
H
62. Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East
BT: -2.09 389 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies history middle eastern history +3
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W
63. Who We Are and How We Got Here
BT: -2.12 391 comparisons
anthropology biology genetics human evolution +1
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T
64. The Sword and the Chrysanthemum
BT: -2.29 400 comparisons
anthropology cultural anthropology cultural studies japanese studies +1
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R
65. Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age
BT: -2.32 324 comparisons
anthropology cultural history history history of religion +1
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W
66. WEIRD book
BT: -2.39 354 comparisons
anthropology cultural history history psychology +1
MR Post
F
67. Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve
BT: -2.45 360 comparisons
anthropology ethics evolutionary studies history +1
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T
68. Two Arabs, a Berber, and a Jew: Entangled Lives in Morocco
BT: -2.49 390 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies middle eastern studies moroccan studies
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T
69. The Social Conquest of Earth
BT: -2.49 354 comparisons
anthropology biology evolutionary biology science +2
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T
70. The Tribal Imagination: Civilization and the Savage Mind
BT: -2.64 300 comparisons
anthropology cultural anthropology philosophy political philosophy +2
MR Post
L
71. Lineages of the Feminine: An Outline of the History of Women
BT: -2.83 329 comparisons
anthropology gender studies history politics +2
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B
72. Bull Shit Jobs: A Theory
BT: -3.14 329 comparisons
anthropology economics social commentary social theory +2
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M
73. Minds Make Societies: How Cognition Explains the World Humans Create
BT: -3.14 322 comparisons
anthropology cognitive science psychology social science +1
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M
74. Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology
BT: -3.61 433 comparisons
anthropology biology biotechnology history of science +1
MR Post
G
75. Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century
BT: -3.72 347 comparisons
20th century history anthropology biography cultural history +2
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T
76. Tristes Tropiques
BT: -3.76 314 comparisons
anthropology non-fiction social science
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M
77. Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding
BT: -4.28 157 comparisons
anthropology evolutionary biology evolutionary psychology psychology +1
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D
78. Do Muslim Women Need Saving?
BT: -4.51 142 comparisons
anthropology cultural studies gender studies middle eastern studies +2
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T
79. The Golden Bough
BT: -5.04 124 comparisons
ancient history anthropology folklore history of religion +3
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T
80. The 10,000 Year Explosion
BT: -5.51 137 comparisons
anthropology biology genetics human evolution +2
MR Post
A
81. A Troublesome Inheritance
BT: -6.10 99 comparisons
anthropology evolutionary biology human genetics psychology +2
MR Post