8<
> You can easily argue that the natural state of the human animal--the true
> hunter/gatherer--is one of extreme material poverty.  That some are happy
> with this doesn't change that fact.  They hold almost no possessions, when
> they can't find food they go hungry, when they are injured or infected or
> give birth they frequently die.  They have few forms of entertainment, and
> have little to no ability to improve their lives if they are unhappy with
> them.
8<
Most h/g people spend only 20-30 hours/week with "work". The rest of
the time they spend with story-telling, music and dance, religiuos
activities and socializing. They have a rich cultural life. They have
time to attend their children. They are very seldom, if at all, unhappy
with their lives. They are much helthier psychologically then we are.
(Se my posting 1997-05-28; Re:Philosophizing on the list).
But their lives are im many aspects hard, although just as mans
digestion
is "designed" for the diet we are discussing in this list, man is also
"designed" for that struggle (althoug when you are not raised into such
a life, you are not completely fit for it, and may find it impossible).

Some easy reading about h/g life:
* Marjorie Shostak: "Nisa, the life and words of a !kung woman" is a
true
story from the inside of the !kung people of Kalahari.
Earthscan publications ltd  ISBN 1 85383 060 7
* Kenneth Good: "Into the heart, An amazoninan love story". The author
spent most of ten years in a Yanomama village, an got married there.
Very amusing to read about when his wife and her brother are brought
directly from the stone age to modern Caracas.
Penguin  ISBN 0 14 016643 2
* Jean Liedloff: "The continuum concept" The author spent two and a half
years with Yekwanas, and tells us about a very happy people. Much about
child-rising. Has a "paleo-diet" approach to psychology or one would
rather say that paleo-diet is the food side of the continuum concept.
(I have only the ISBN for the swedish edition of this book,
try: http://www.cc.ruu.nl/~charan/

(Yanomamas and Yekwanas are not pure hunter/gatherers, they are partly
gardeners, Yekwanas probably mostly. Yanomamas regularly leave their
village for a couple of months, going foraging and nomading in the
djungle.)

Some more pure scientific reading:
Tim Ingold, David Riches, James Woodburn, editors: "Hunters and
gatherers"
(two volumes) Berg publishers  ISBN 0 85496 734 6 and ISBN 0 85496 735 4

-Hans