Do not take this class. Manson is extremely unaccommodating and his lectures are impossible to follow. He was extremely rude to his students when they requested an only version of one of the midterms (due to concerns about the pandemic, immunocompromised students, international students living in their home countries, etc). It is pretty ironic that he spends so much time studying humans considering he does not care about his students. In terms of the class material, his lectures make no sense, are organized terribly, and are even worse in person. He obviously is educated on what he is teaching but it makes no sense to students without a deep background in evolution. Overall, I would never recommend this class to anyone, ever.

I genuinely liked this class and found Professor Manson to be fair. The tests required a lot of memorization but he did give study guides for them and all the test questions seemed to be taken straight from them. A lot of people were upset that he made the second midterm and final in person but in multiple of my other classes the professors did the same exact thing and no one complained so I don't know what it was with this class. I would definitely recommend this class, as it made me think more critically and I even found myself telling my friends fun facts that I learned during the quarter.

Upon first reading Manson’s syllabus, I knew he’d be an interesting character due to his policy on no extra credit and a disclaimer about free speech in his class. This class was half in the Covid setting because of the Omicron resurgence, and half in person starting in February. I didn’t like following along the PowerPoint audio slides because this gave me hours and hours of notes to write at a clunky speed. I did appreciate the online midterm format which was fair and ensured that questions could not simply be searched online. In person, Manson is a decent lecturer but goes a bit fast — I personally had to touch up on many notes later. He was pretty sassy, and wrote emails with plenty of snark whenever us students petitioned for anything. In person, his exams are memorization based so definitely grind out those slides. My TA was Damanjit, a very refreshing and relatable guy. Take this class with Manson if you want decent exams and don’t care about the professor. Godspeed to anyone memorizing the fossil chart — it’s easier to teach a monkey how to steal food.

manson is extremely unaccommodating and rude. the material itself is fine and the tests are as well, but the professor is what ruined this class for me completely.

I managed in this class, but I didn't enjoy it at all. The grades were pre-curved. You only needed like 84% to get an A. This mattered a lot because the exams were extremely difficult in my opinion. In addition, I found it hard to learn in lecture because Manson simply didn't speak clearly or present things in an interesting manner. He was also rude to numerous students over the course of the quarter.

In sum, the class was an easy A, but it was miserable to get through.

As per prior reviews, this professor is not accommodating at all. I would not take this professor even if 84 is an A. An 84 is an A in his class because his tests are crazy. The lectures, homework, and discussions were straight forward and easy to understand but is not reflective of what he is going to put on the exams (which are 85% of your grade). The general topics of Anthro 1 are not hard but the way he tests stuff is so miniscule you might as well memorize every single thing he says. He provides a study guide but I felt like although it gives students a sense of what is going to be tested on, it does not prepare students of the miniscule detail on his exams. He also added test questions probably from our textbooks so you might as well breathe the anthro textbook. This class was not that difficult and the material was interesting towards the latter half of the course, it just sucks that these tests are a memorizing test than a comprehension test. It was hard to even connect some questions to the more general topics on our final because of how miniscule the details of the questions were.

Take this class. One reason we go to college is to get a good job, and another reason is to learn more about ourselves and the world. My whole life I had been concerned that selflessness was weakness, but this class showed me that our uniquely human ability to self-sacrifice for others, even strangers, may actually be one of our greatest strengths.

How can we conclude that? Prof. Manson walks us through the scientific method, natural selection, our distant ancestors--he shows us how humans came to be. This is a North campus class, but really it is an ode to science. It is firm in its belief that we can grasp meaning from the world through scientific approaches, that there are powerful things to learn from a worldview centered around skepticism.

I think that, at heart, Prof. Manson is a romantic. His lectures glow with enthusiasm. He answers questions with the same joy that people open birthday presents. This is someone who has long since discovered what his passion is, and who wants to share that passion with you.

Other students have criticized him for making us take our second midterm in person, saying that he did not accommodate international students, students with disabilities, or immunocompromised students. But he did accommodate them. There was an option to not take the second midterm, and have the final count for more. For students unable to take the final, he gave options to take the final on another date, depending on the needs of the student. Call me cynical, but I think the actual reason people were angry about the in-person midterm is that in-person exams are harder. They require we memorize things.

So yes, take this class with Prof. Manson. I love UCLA, but one flaw with our school is that our classes focus too much on getting us jobs. Anthro 1 with Manson feels like a class from a liberal arts college. I promise that if you engage with the material, at the end of the 10 weeks you'll be able to think about yourself and the rest of the world more thoughtfully.

Overall I guess it's important to take into account that Manson is a pretty standard/traditional teacher, our class materials include powerpoints with voice-overs as well as a textbook(Manson purposefully picked an edition that was both recent and cost-efficient so Thank you!). The class is formatted in a way that provides everything you need to achieve a good grade and learn a lot. You can tell he doesn't necessarily care for straying from his plans even if it risks likability ex: while in remote learning, despite student/TA requests, there were no zoom lectures with Manson (other than office hours), when requested to provide an online format of the second midterm and final, Manson declined. For the no zooming, I'm trying to be understanding and reason with others that he's only human, not everyone wants to be on zoom for hours, maybe he gets anxious in that kind of setting. Whatever the case may be, it would have been nice for us but not necessary. As a student with concerns about the pandemic, the response to the student's reasoning was a bit alarming, however, I also understand his viewpoint for wanting to uphold the integrity of the course and follow the administration's instructions. Overall the course is pretty simple, following his lectures in person is much easier than remote, but studying on your own/with peers is ideal. Seems like a funny guy(in a sarcastic/way), you can tell he cares about what he teaches which makes it a bit more interesting. Though he isn't necessarily accommodating, he is pretty helpful.

Although I was happy to have a GPA boost, I was saddened by the lack of effort Professor Manson put into this class. I wish he posted lecture recordings where we could see his face rather than just posting powerpoints because, especially during COVID-19, studying from the uploaded slides alone made this class feel like a waste. Also, don't buy the textbook because even though he says it's fair game for the tests, he uses different wording from the textbook and can deduct points from your tests sometimes if you word something in a way that is too far removed from the slides.

Manson's a pretty serious dude and and he makes lectures so much harder to get through. His study guides are long. His tests are fair, only because he doesn't test outside of the study guide. I will say that I do feel like I walked away with a solid foundation in bio anthro, but would not recommend if you're looking for an easy/fun GE