Mimbres Lives and Landscapes

While attending the 2010 Mogollon Conference last October, Margaret Nelson and Michelle Hegmon presented some of their recent work in the Mimbres area (see my summaries here).

These two professors from Arizona State University had recently edited a book dedicated to the Mimbres culture, but the hardcover version was a little too pricey for me.  Mimbres Lives and Landscapes is a SAR Press publication, and they have chapter one available for download as a PDF.

Not sure how I missed it, but the paperback version has been available for a few months now.  I ordered my copy tonight, so I'll try to write up a book review as soon as I can.

Cheap Anthropology Books

as a part of my research project, I needed a chapter from the book Lowland Maya Settlement Patterns. The copies at both ASU and U of A were checked out, so I headed to Amazon.com.

Delightfully, there were seven or eight used copies available, ranging in price from $10 to $54. I snapped up the $10 copy, and it arrived just four days later. I wouldn't do this for every source I might need, but this looks like a book I would own, so I went for it.

In Amazon's Marketplace (books sold by Amazon customers), one can find numerous out-of-print archaeology and anthropology books and reports, often for very reasonable prices. There are a surprising number of excavation reports available (e.g. Archaeological investigations at the Arroyo Hondo site: Third field report, 1972).

You can even browse Anthropology or Archaeology books by subtopic. Take a look at these starting points, and use the subtopics in the left-hand nav:

Archaeology Books at Amazon

Anthropology Books at Amazon

You can sort the results by price, customer rating, etc. I've also found several of my textbooks over the last few years on Amazon, usually paying significantly less than the used prices at the university bookstore.

My First Publication

It's not in a journal, and it is not a paper, but it is cite-able. The Anthropology Review Database, hosted at the University of Buffalo, has published my book review of A Space Syntax Analysis of Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, New Mexico: Community Formation in the Northern Rio Grande.

I read this book as part of my research into neighborhood formation in pre-state settlements last semester. Another grad student in the seminar I was taking brought the ARD to our attention as a great source of Anthropological book reviews, and I discovered that they were looking for a review of this book (they have a large list of books and films for which they desire a review).

Here's the abstract of my review to give you an idea of what the book is about:

Using the large body of research collected from Arroyo Hondo pueblo during the 1970s, Jason Shapiro employs space syntax analysis, a method initially developed with modern architecture in mind, to analyze the settlement and subsequent resettlement of this 14th century community in the Rio Grande valley.

Take a look, it's short (but good).



REFERENCES:

Shapiro, Jason S.
2005 A Space Syntax Analysis of Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, New Mexico: Community Formation in the Northern Rio Grande. Santa Fe, New Mexico: School of American Research Press.

Wren, Paul
2008 Review of A Space Syntax Analysis of Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, New Mexico: Community Formation in the Northern Rio Grande. Anthropology Review Database. September 01. Electronic document, http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/cgi/showme.cgi?keycode=3256, accessed October 5, 2008.

Read any good books lately?

I did. Actually, I listened to it as an audio book, but that did not diminish The DaVinci Code. I really enjoyed the story, and found the ideas he presented to be very interesting.

I've posted a book report that I wrote for ASB 214, but don't read it if you have not read the book. It is full of spoilers!

Still cramming, after all these years

Well, here it is-- Monday already. I'm taking ASB 214 (Magic, Witchcraft & Healing) as a night course at Paradise Community College, and it meets every Monday night. Have I done my reading? No...

And the reading for this class is not casual. Our textbook (Sacred Realms) is a collection of journal articles relating to the development of religion in human culture. They are usually 20 pages long, the verbiage is dense, and the print is tiny. Still, here I am with only hours to go before class time, and I haven't done my homework.

What's the deal? It's not as if I'm only 19 years old... what happened to self-discipline? I know that Tuesdays are my best day for doing homework since I have no other commitments, yet I always spend my Tuesdays doing something else.

I can obviously get by in an undergraduate class with a minimum of effort, but I better develop some study habits before I hit graduate school, or I'll drown for sure.