Kent F. (kent) reviewed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies on + 50 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
Read's like a doctoral thesis. So redundant that one wonders if the author was being paid by the word.
Ron U. (usseryron) reviewed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Tremendous scholarly work. Ever wonder why some societies, such as African and South American, for example, have not "progressed" to the levels of others in economic and military terms? Ever suspect that the answer is innate intelligence? Diamond disproves this idea with resounding insight. His surprising answer to this question is basically "geography." That plus the lack of domesticatable animals and grains. The geography answer may be perplexing, until you consider that in Eurasia successful crops could be exported very widely with little latitudinal change. Not so in North-South land masses. (From a developmental standpoint, the US is largely European.)
It all boils down historically to the change in a society from hunter-gatherers (nomads) to agricultural (settled) civilizations. It is the latter that enables specialization of labor. When everyone is struggling to feed themselves and their families on a day to day basis, there is no luxury of allowing the rise of a craftsman class, a warrior class, etc., etc.
The great news from Diamond is that most of the old rules no longer apply in a modern "flat" world, so these natural obstacles to development in Africa, e.g., are in the process of being removed as economics allow.
It all boils down historically to the change in a society from hunter-gatherers (nomads) to agricultural (settled) civilizations. It is the latter that enables specialization of labor. When everyone is struggling to feed themselves and their families on a day to day basis, there is no luxury of allowing the rise of a craftsman class, a warrior class, etc., etc.
The great news from Diamond is that most of the old rules no longer apply in a modern "flat" world, so these natural obstacles to development in Africa, e.g., are in the process of being removed as economics allow.
Helpful Score: 4
This is not the easiest read in the world, but definately offers fascinating material for thought.
Yuan W. (yuan) reviewed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Interesting arguments, presented in a very clear and matter-of-fact way. Was not a fan of the prose however. Very dry, chapters did not really seem to flow together. Given such a gripping topic, would have expected a bit more page "turn-ability".
Gerhard O. (nccorthu) reviewed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies on + 569 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
very interesting theories on causation in History. Takes some thinking but really interesting
Helpful Score: 2
Scholarly and detailed, but is a real page turner.
Megan G. (magalino) reviewed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies on + 6 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
An excellent analysis of how culture develops as a result of geography. Diamond conveys an amazing amount of specialized information simply and readably. He argues his point persuasively.
Helpful Score: 2
You will never look at the world around you in the same way after reading this book. It gives some interesting answers as to how different cultures where shaped depending upon where they were located and and the food that was available.
Elizabeth D. (LizGH) reviewed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies on + 132 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A compelling if not always enthralling examination of the fates of human societies - why one society became dominant while another withered - from a decidedly unusual environmental perspective.
Helpful Score: 1
Iconic work in the field demonstrating how accidents of geography and geographical biology led to the development of food production in certain locales, which in turn led to sedentary societies, increased population, and crowd-based diseases, which led to job specialization and to more inventors being born, which gave certain peoples a head start on developing technologies and germs that allowed them to defeat other people not so endowed.
John O. (buzzby) -
Helpful Score: 1
This does a better job of explaining why the world is the way it is than any other book.
Michelle B. (sdshellybean) reviewed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies on + 51 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
So enlightening. One of those books where you have plenty of "Oh, THAT explains it!" moments.
Helpful Score: 1
I liked this book. It is well researched and the information is very interesting. However, the book reads like a doctoral thesis and can be dry and technical. It does a very good job in answering the difficult question why Eurasian societies developed earlier/faster than other societies and were able to conquer other socities like the Americas. The easy answer is the immediate causes found in the title, guns, germs, and steel. However, this book tries to answer the question with the ultimate causes. Long answer short the differences between the continents in several environmental factors that led to Eurasian societies developing farming earlier than other societies or some societies not developing farming at all.
kickerdad -
âGuns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societiesâ by Jared Diamond is a fascinating read proposing numerous factors why some cultures evolve and others do not. Stemming from a simple question from a friend, asking why his people (Blacks of New Guinea) didn't have the same things as the whites who came to New Guinea. Diamond distills complicated histories, data from a multitude of different fields of study and sources to present a multifaceted theory. He also comments of the challenges of âanalyzing history' as compared to easier fields of study like physics, chemistry, and molecular biology.
Filled with substantial reference sources, Diamonds isn't a stab in the dark but a well reasoned and structured explanation which is also well written. Countless times while reading an explanation or some background information, I found myself asking âwell, what about â¦â and typically within pages, often within paragraphs, the question was answered as if he were reading my mind. Great anticipation of the readers thoughts!
I wonder how his theory and its assumptions have held up for the past 21 years. What new thing has been learned to add brush strokes to the portrait of his story. [5/5]
Filled with substantial reference sources, Diamonds isn't a stab in the dark but a well reasoned and structured explanation which is also well written. Countless times while reading an explanation or some background information, I found myself asking âwell, what about â¦â and typically within pages, often within paragraphs, the question was answered as if he were reading my mind. Great anticipation of the readers thoughts!
I wonder how his theory and its assumptions have held up for the past 21 years. What new thing has been learned to add brush strokes to the portrait of his story. [5/5]
Some very thoughtful insight
Interesting explanation of how civilizations have developed, conquered each other, and spread across the globe. Personally, I think he tries unconvincingly to assure the reader that intelligence has nothing to do with the results.
Jeannine W. (jrelehw) reviewed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies on + 204 more book reviews
AWESOME!!! The most incredible book I have ever read!
A must read book if you like History...took some time for me to get through it but well worth it in the end
Josh Garner (joshgarner) reviewed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies on + 4 more book reviews
Although a far worse attempt could have been made, the book's central thesis of environmental essentialism is a mistaken one. Diamond makes a compelling argument for the importance of environmental factors in determining human history, but takes that truth and stretches it to false heights, to the point of making incorrect and bizarre statements, such as the "fact" that zebras cannot be trained and domesticated (they can) and that a contributing factor to China's decline was the fact that the Chinese coastline is not convoluted enough for dissidents to hide in.
Again, not a terrible book, but unfortunately in trying to make a case for the importance of surroundings (which it does), it started making incorrect claims.
A good counter to this book is Wade's "A Troublesome Inheritance" (ISBN 9780143127161).
Again, not a terrible book, but unfortunately in trying to make a case for the importance of surroundings (which it does), it started making incorrect claims.
A good counter to this book is Wade's "A Troublesome Inheritance" (ISBN 9780143127161).
Kerry R. (haasker) reviewed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies on + 37 more book reviews
Reading this book was an eye opening experience. Since I was a teenager watching Albert Sweitzer on TV in Africa, I wondered, why are there so many disparities and inequalities in the world populations? Why is Africa so poor? How, if we all came out of Africa, we're not all black? Jared Diamond attempts to answer those questions and many more in a very straightforward, scientific manner. His writing can be a little on the dull side sometimes, but then there are many places in the book where he makes the topic a little lighter. This is not a book you'll read in one sitting, or stay up all night to read, but it is written very well, and it has helped me to understand a lot better how we all came to be who we are, and where we "fit" into the world. I would highly recommend the National Geographic made film of this book, Mr. Diamond is a principle narrator in it. It's available on Netflix. Do read the book first, the film understandably condenses much of the book, and you'll miss being able to study the maps and diagrams which the book has many of.
haasker
haasker
John O. (buzzby) -
Best book ever written.
This book is fascinating, and I'd recommend it to the species as a whole. Historical science ftw.
good book
Fascinating
This is such a good book!!
A great read!
Melisa M. (hedgewitch) reviewed Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies on + 113 more book reviews
From the back cover: "Fascinating .... Lays a foundation for understanding human history." --Bill Gates.
"Artful, informative, and delightful.... There is nothing like a radically new angle of vision for bringing out unsuspected dimensions of a subject, and that is what Jared Diamond has done." --William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books
"An ambitious, highly important book." --James Shreeve, New York Times Book Review
"Artful, informative, and delightful.... There is nothing like a radically new angle of vision for bringing out unsuspected dimensions of a subject, and that is what Jared Diamond has done." --William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books
"An ambitious, highly important book." --James Shreeve, New York Times Book Review
"The fates of human societies"- from the cover
THIS IS A SOFT COVER EDITION!! The ISBN number is the EXACT same as the hardcover. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS BOOK UNLESS YOU WANT A SOFT COVER BOOK!
