Reddit reviews The Dobe !Kung (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology)

Farming is pretty recent in human history. Up until a few thousand years ago, all people on Earth lived as hunter gatherers. Luckily, some lived this way up until 40-50 years ago, like the !Kung. There were anthropologists who lived with them while they were still fully practicing this lifestyle. Which means we know a lot about how they lived.

I really suggest this book for anyone wanting to know what the hunter gatherer lifestyle was like. It covers pretty much all aspects of their lives and society. https://www.amazon.com/Dobe-Kung-Studies-Cultural-Anthropology/dp/0030638038

Basically, it was not a hard life. It could be dangerous, sure. There were no modern medicines, there were occasional conflicts within the group and with outside groups (though there was a system in place to resolve them, at least in the case of the !Kung), there were dangerous animals. But really, the normal day-to-day life was not difficult. It was basically just a lot of walking around...you know, hunting and gathering. Also, a lot of leisure time and extremely slow paced.

At least the aspect of total work hours has been debunked. Richard B. Lee eventually concluded that the !Kung work approx. 40 hours a week in a later publication (well, it's a book really).

http://www.amazon.com/Dobe-Kung-Studies-Cultural-Anthropology/dp/0030638038

Edit: though I don't know how relevant are the Kung since Sahlins was more focused on the Australian aborigines,