...Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.
I've been looking for good ways to kill some time lately, and nothing kills time like a great book, so we spent an hour or so nosing around the bookstore last night, and I picked up this (which has been on my wish list for a while) and two others.
This one has really sucked me in, and the premise is awfully interesting:
History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves.
Anybody else read it? Anybody reading anything good right now?
I saw the series of documentaries on TV (PBS?) based on the book. They were very interesting although I disagree with some of his conclusions.
Yes, I've read that book. It is an excellent refute to any ideas of racial superiority some groups hold dear.
It was a long one, but I read it a few years ago. Quite good.
I haven't read that one, yet, but I had a friend recommend it to me a while back. Unfortunately, I forgot to write it down-- odd, because so far I've thoroughly enjoyed every other book he's pushed me towards. Thanks for the reminder!
I picked up Diana Eck's "A New Religious America" over the summer, and thought that was a fantastic read. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Also good, although a little broader in scope, was Patrick Allitt's Religion in America since 1945: A History
Kem
So one society does better than others becuase of environment (it gets all of the resources) or because of biology (their people are genetically superior)? Uh, are those the only two choices? Maybe I don't understand his thesis as well as I could, but it sounds like he has set it up very neatly - either you believe his ideas, or you believe that some people are genetically inferior to you. Nice. How about the role that culture plays? Or technological innovation? Or the accidental vagaries of history?
one of my fave books of all time. It's a theory of everything. The only arguments which didn't sway me were the linguistic ones toward the end.
He repeats a lot of the ideas in his more recent books
I'm reading it right now. Some of his ideas about agriculture are interesting (not in a good way), but overall he advances a convincing argument for cultural materialism.
Its a good book, but read it with a critical mnd. Ralph
Always.
I'm only 50 or 75 pages into it, so I've yet to form an opinion other than it's a very pleasant read - just flows along nicely.
either you believe his ideas, or you believe that some people are genetically inferior to you. Nice. How about the role that culture plays? Or technological innovation? Or the accidental vagaries of history?
that's exactly what the book's about -- the accident of geopraphy. people living on an east-west axis with similar temperature extremes -- eurasia -- were able to engineer and grow crops easily, and also spread their germs all the way from England to Japan - -thus they develpoed resistance. wheat and rice were widepread on that access, they were able to grow surpluses, developed writing systems to create inventories, used the surplus to build armies.
people on north-south axes, the Americas and Africa, only had a small amount of land in the sweet spot of land for growing crops. generally it was as easy for them to engineer crops -- corn being an exception. no suprpllus, no armies and steel. less trading, less exposure to various germs. So when the Europeans came they were at vast disadvantage, espeically in regard to germ.
This is a massive oversimplification of what Diamond wrote, but believe, there's lots in there about technology and culture
The Death of the Grown-up: How America’s Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization
by Diana West will be the next book I pick up.
handymom:
From one of the reviews there:
<< West claims that this erosion of identity renders us incapable of countering potentially existing threats with adequate resolve and harshness. >>
Sounds like a book I'd enjoy. Let me know when you start it!
Kem
I read one of his other books, "Collapse". It was also very good.