FRONT MATTER

 

 

I have chosen to translate this line from Lévi-Strauss slightly differently than did his superb translator Rodney Needham, who used the phrase "good to think." Taken out of context, as it is here in the epigraph, the phrase seemed to need the preposition "with" in order to be intelligible. The original French reads, "On comprend enfin que les espèces naturelles ne sont pas choisies parce que "bonnes à manger" mais parce que "bonnes à penser."