Guns, Germs and Steel

Life isn't fair--here's why: Since 1500, Europeans have, for better and worse, called the tune that the world has danced to. In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond explains the reasons why things worked out that way. It is an elemental question, and Diamond is certainly not the first to ask it. However, he performs a singular service by relying on scientific fact rather than specious theories of European genetic superiority. Diamond, a professor of physiology at UCLA, suggests that the geography of Eurasia was best suited to farming, the domestication of animals and the free flow of information. The more populous cultures that developed as a result had more complex forms of government and communication--and increased resistance to disease. Finally, fragmented Europe harnessed the power of competitive innovation in ways that China did not. (For example, the Europeans used the Chinese invention of gunpowder to create guns and subjugate the New World.) Diamond's book is complex and a bit overwhelming. But the thesis he methodically puts forth--examining the "positive feedback loop" of farming, then domestication, then population density, then innovation, and on and on--makes sense. Written without bias, Guns, Germs, and Steel is good global history.

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Plants, animals and farming - Rated
Have you ever wondered why the world has developed the way that it has? Why some cultures and peoples seem to have prospered better than, or even at the expense of, others? If so, Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond is a book I would recommend to you. It is deeply thought provoking and well written, squeezing a history of humankind's development over the past 13,000 years into around 400 pages, which, as Diamond points out, is about 150 years per page, so not a small feat.

The basic premise of the book is that all of the worlds more advanced societies, including both those still present today and those that have disappeared into history, needed a set of complementary enablers (Ultimate Factors) to be present to allow them to develop from the original state of hunter-gatherers, from which base all people originally started. The thing that surprised me about this was just how short this list of required enablers is and as a result just how unlikely/fortunate it was that many different and varied societies did develop at all.

From the Ultimate factors, Diamond draws out a series of sequential proximate factors that lead to such historical events as European settlers not managing to settle the vast majority of the African continent or New Guinea, the decimation of the original inhabitants of North America - mostly through diseases introduced from the Old World. And, many more.

In brief, a selection of these factors include:

*The geography of any given area and the plant and animal species supported; how many of the originally wild animal species would prove suitable for domestication; How many wild plants would be worth planting - rather than say, going hunting?

*If you had enough plants and animals to domesticate, would you give up being a hunter gatherer?

*If you became a farming society would you produce enough spare food to support none-food producing crafts; politicians and artisans?

*If you did support none-food producing peoples would this eventually lead to a large dense and sedentary society etc etc

One of the many things that I really liked about this book was that it is not written from an Anglo-Saxon perspective, which is very refreshing. Further, although the book isn't, I believe, intended to be a scientific text on the matter, Diamond does provide extensive references for further reading should anyone wish to do so.

I read this book having (relatively) recently finished reading Pathfinders by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto and found the two books to be very complementary. I would recommend this book and Pathfinders to anyone with an interest in history, politics or humanity in general.

Enlightening - Rated
Wow. Well I have always wondered in the back of my mind why the continents have spanned out as they have, and as only great scientists can Mr Diamond has got round to answering in a hugely ambitious and incredibly fact-filled fascinating book.

I can't really say anything that hasn't been said here already but most importantly for me this book has reignited a passion for human history in me and that is achievement enough.

Educational, thought provoking. - Rated
Why are some parts of the world more advance than others?
A cursory analysis would yield the following suggestions:
1. Some parts of the world have better weapons i.e. guns
2. Some parts of the world have more complicated viruses and bacteria i.e. germs
3. Some parts of the world had an industrial revolution i.e. steel.

This book goes a step deeper and explores the reasons why some parts of the world got these competitive advantages.

The central part of the hypotheisis is that Eurasia had a better ecology and a hole host of benefits spawned from this - not all of which are obvious.

Eurasia (especially the fertile crescent) simple had a good permutation of land, rivers, mountains and climates that produced favourable conditions for a wide range of crops and plants. These favourable conditions also meant a greater range of domesticated animals. For example, most animals over 100KG were first domesticated in Eurasia. This includes, sheep, goats, cattle, horses and donkeys. All this meant, the transition from hunter - gatherer to agrarian lifestle was made sooner. With a sedentary lifestyle comes, population growth, societal organisation, and trade specialisation. But all of this was a indirect result of an act of nature, there was nothing innately special about home euroasio!

With stable sedentary societies, technological progress was inevitable. As were a wide range of germs due the range of domesticated animals and man's closer proximity to them. The complex arrangement of mountains of rivers gave rise to separate cultural and ethnic groupings and eventually nation states. Competition between them, ensured rulers had to innovate or else be face being wiped out by a grouping better organised in what became an almost Darwinian struggle - rewarding societal success and punishing societal failure.

We all know that to understand the present, we sometimes need to understand the past. The question is, how far back in past do we need to go? Well, this book would make me think that when it comes to the comparative evolution of societies, we certainly need to go right back to Pleistocene, have a look at mother nature and take a cue from there.

Want something for your mind to chew on, go for it. You'll enjoy this book.

Educational revelation - Rated
Not being a student of history, I found this book to be an education into the macro history of the last 13,000 years, how some cultures prosper and others flounder. The theories of the author make absolute sense; such that by the end, it was like a door had been opened, enabling a clear view of these large scale historical and cultural patterns.

At times, I found the section covering the rise of food production to a be a ittle cumbersome and the last couple of chapters tend to repeat the same theories, but all in all a fascinating and highly educational read.

the best science book this Darwin about evolution . - Rated
This book is the gratest ever. I never read a science book so sharp and interesting. A masterpiece.