Aims to provide an introduction to anthropology, showing it as an activity which helps us to understand human social and cultural diversity. This book is also an invitation to anthropologists, which began with the question: "Why do humans have such diverse cultures and ways of life?".

The question - one strand, a second strand, a third strand, and all strands together; the great arc - the great arc, sea shells, between, Europe and the people without history, metamorphic life, the question again; beginning to make history - Darwinian demands, the basic sketch, social and technical intelligence, the selective advantage of sociality, an evolutionary ratchet, the invention of history, three tales; the anatomy of sociality - intersubjectivity, mind-reading, politeness, pedagogy and aesthetic standards, creativity and repetition with constant variation, speech and stories, putting it back together; reading minds and reading life - research programmes, narrative thought, Oedipus Rex, making events, recapitulation; the bull and the saint - the philosopher and the story-teller, a short, sharp story, ambiguities, Siddhasagar again, a disagreement, paradigmatic thought again, imagery.