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Then, right after I order, the hardcover comes in stock. Man. I was waiting weeks for the hardcover edition to come into stock so I just decided to buy the paperback. I HATE FREAKIN AMAZON. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
Instead of painting a historically complex picture (as genuine history tends to be), Diamond over plays the "location is everything" (geographical) argument, as if the geography argument answers every inequality amongst nations. Jared Diamond's thesis is a product of the age we live in. He's more than happy to attribute negative values such as greed and avarice to European conquerors but certainly other cultural values, specially any that might be positive, play no role in Diamond's story. Diamond is a fine apologist for the self-hating descendants of Europeans who are in vogue on college campuses these days, but his thesis tells a very distorted and very shallow version of history. If you have to have this book, a used copy will inflict the least pain.
But, that topic only covers about one or two pages and in no way damages the overall theme of his book (so I would suggest ignoring that point). Is Diamond's controversial suggestion that 'underdeveloped countries may produce smarter people because they have to be smarter just to survive' just plain dumb.
With all the reviews out there I won't go into detail except to say that this book covers very important principles that outline the general story of human history. Is it a little too long.
Simply stated: This book is a must read. Yes.
Yes. Is it a little too repetative.
Yes. Furthermore, to balance out this book with some additional views I would suggest reading 'The Central Liberal Truth' and 'Carnage and Culture' - these are NOT competing views - just additional perspectives on what can simply be described as the ultimate explanation of why some peoples/ cultures/ countries have survived/ dominated/ propogated and others have not.I highly recommend this book.
This may be a commonly held belief in some backwards social science departments, but has already been widely discredited. The opening discussion of the battle at Cajamarca between the Spaniards and Incas, including translated first-hand accounts, is both riveting and thought-provoking.The book suffers from two main defects. This book contains a number of fascinating historical stories and studies on the evolution of civilized society. The authors tilting at this windmill is sometimes tedious.It's worth mentioning the contrast between this book and Darwin's Origin of Species. First, the author spent most of his career working in New Guinea and too frequently uses this direct and narrow experience to add credibility to a more general assertions about other societies. These provincial interruptions sometimes interrupt the flow of an otherwise fine exposition.Second, the author seems intent to refute the idea that the current state of human society - with widely varying adoption of technology and social standards i different geographical areas - is the consequence of mathematically closed-form natural laws which can be employed to predict not only history from first principles, but future societal trends. The latter still seems intellectually fresh, despite its elaborate detail and minor errors in thinking. Darwin's thoughts are shaped by his travels but not limited by them.
A wonderfully insightful book. Diamond is brilliant in explaining why and how history has played out, on a broad scale, the way it has. It's not hard to see why he was awarded the Pulitzer for this.-Colin Gershon
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