Feeling Modern: The Eccentricities of Public Life Book

What an interesting, intriguing book. I couldn't help but hear a petulant little child shouting "See? I told you so!" just about every other page. When you learn the author's reasons for writing this book, that sentiment gets reinforced greatly.
Do I believe the author makes his case? Meh. Much of what he writes about is borderline old news. Does he put old data together in new ways? Again, Meh. Depends on whom you studied with and how willing you were to think independently. Did I learn anything? Meh^3. I made one note of a new take on something. One note in 300 pages doesn't endear me to this book. It might in another book but, as I wrote above, I kept hearing this whiny kid shouting that he was right and the rest of whomever was wrong. It got tiring after a while.
On a more academic take, the author makes too many errors (or his copyeditors and technical editors suck), there's way too much conjecture/hypothesis/assumptions offered as fact, no where near enough evidence for many of the claims (perhaps because this is more a popsci book than anything else, although I wouldn't quite qualify it as "popular science"). I could see using this book to teach debate, though, as in "Debate the merits of the argument on page ...".
Is this a worthwhile book for people without anthro/archeo/cultural/linguistics backgrounds? Yeah, I think they'd enjoy it. I could see this book in a 101-style survey course, not much more. People with more background might enjoy it as a connect-the-dots-in-a-weird-way study.
My biggest challenge with the book is the author's insistence that he's providing new information or at least repackaging existing information. Not quite. Maybe he's bringing it to a new audience (a worthwhile activity, definitely).
Unfortunately it left me more amused than intrigued, probably not the author's intent.