“No author of our time has done more than Bronislaw Malinowski to connect in an understandable way the reality of human life with the cold abstract concepts of science. His works constitute an invaluable link between the knowledge of the everyday lives of remote exotic peoples and the theoretical knowledge possessed by humanity.

Malinowski's talent was dual: he was endowed with the intelligence typically characteristic of artists, and with the scientist's ability to observe and declare what is universal. To Malinowski's reader, concepts relating to religion, magic, science, ritual, and myth are provided, within the framework of shaping vivid impressions and perceptions about the inhabitants of the Trobriand Islands, into whose lives he so captivatingly delves.

Malinowski studies people, then examines books, and then returns to people. Unlike some, he does not study people to find in them what the books told him he would find. The eclecticism of Malinowski's theory is driven by the fact that the human reality to which he always returns can never be represented by any single theoretical framework to which emphasis has been given.” (R. Redfield, From the Preface to "Magic, Science and Religion, and Other Essays")

[...] Living mentally for a while among people with a much simpler culture than our own, we may gain a new sense of perspective regarding our own institutions, our own beliefs, and our own customs. Thus, if anthropology can provoke in us a sense of perspective and offer us a more refined sense of humor, it can easily lay claim to the title of a very important science.” (Bronislaw Malinowski) (From the presentation on the back cover of the book)