A global tour of beliefs and traditions, this book will sweep you into more than 200 different cultures, showing you the remarkable diversity of humanity and our shared experiences. Spectacular photos and maps show how different cultures evolved, and examine the challenges they face.

The extraordinary findings of the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project—a research initiative to catalog DNA from people around the world, decoding the great map of human migration embedded in our own genetic makeup—are woven throughout.

• Hardcover
• 384 pages, 235 color photographs, 37 maps
• 7 5/8 x 9 3/4
• © 2008

Wade Davis was named one of the Explorers for the Millennium by the National Geographic Society. He is an anthropologist and ethnobotanist whose books include the international bestseller The Serpent and the Rainbow.

K. David Harrison is a linguist whose work with endangered languages has received national attention. He conducts expeditions to remote places around the world in his study of global language loss.