本书是两位著名的 人类学家安德鲁·斯特拉森和帕梅拉·斯图瓦德应北京大学教授王铭铭之邀，在北京大学做的四次主题演讲，内容以在巴布亚新几内亚田野考察为基础。同时援引美国、西班牙、爱尔兰、中国台湾的诸多案例，广泛涉及巫术妖法、体液观等人类学传统课题，创造性地将之与当代国际问题如恐怖主义、全球化等课题相衔接，进行对比研究。每个演讲之后，附有北京大学、清华太学、美国芝加哥大学等十余所中外高校的人类学学者与两位教授的交流问答，堪称近期中国人类学研究与世界人类学界最重要的一次对话。

In his million-copy bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel , Jared Diamond examined how and why Western civilizations developed the technologies and immunities that allowed them to dominate much of the world. Now in this brilliant companion volume, Diamond probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to collapse into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates? As in Guns, Germs, and Steel , Diamond weaves an all-encompassing global thesis through a series of fascinating historical-cultural narratives. Moving from the Polynesian cultures on Easter Island to the flourishing American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya and finally to the doomed Viking colony on Greenland, Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe. Environmental damage, climate change, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of these societies, but other societies found solutions and persisted. Similar problems face us today and have already brought disaster to Rwanda and Haiti, even as China and Australia are trying to cope in innovative ways. Despite our own society’s apparently inexhaustible wealth and unrivaled political power, ominous warning signs have begun to emerge even in ecologically robust areas like Montana. Brilliant, illuminating, and immensely absorbing, Collapse is destined to take its place as one of the essential books of our time, raising the urgent question: How can our world best avoid committing ecological suicide?

本书是一部演讲集，它表现了作者三方面的特质。第一，酷爱真理，无论他的判断是对是错，甚至对他最无同情心的人也会清楚地看到，这种判断是一位最忠诚的人以最热情的态度说出的。从头到尾，他不懈地对各式各样的虚伪和固习展开战斗，对公式展开战斗。第二，他对别人的痛苦和不幸有着无限的同情心。"他唯一的奢侈就是行善。"他毫不吝惜地布施，通常是不道出姓名。第三，他对宗教虔诚的感情。卡莱尔信仰的不是基督教；任何形式的教会组织或信条都不足以赢得他的信仰，顶多只能赢得容忍而已。但他对那个看不见的精神宇宙的真实却有极深的牢不可破的信仰，他认为那个宇宙是无限的，永恒的，神秘的，但能到处亲切地与人的世界发生接触。

《性与性格》是奥地利犹太裔哲学家奥托·魏宁格23岁时发表的著作，也是他生前发表的惟一著作。一百年来，《性与性格》一直在被研究和争论。人们对它众说纷纭，褒贬不一，或舵拍案喝彩，或对它口诛笔伐。其重要原因之一就是它不同于一般的性心理学专著，更不是坊间常见的那种打着性学旗号的庸俗读物。它不但提出了带有普遍性和根本性的两性关系问题，而且从哲学、逻辑学、伦理学和心理学等多个角度对这些问题进行了反传统的探讨。