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lauren708's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinating read--this book has an immense amount of information and analysis. Diamond does a great job of bringing the reader back to the thesis and his main points even while talking about ancient civilizations. A must read for citizens of Earth, honestly. I admit I did not end with the hope that he had 15 years ago.
erikars's review against another edition
4.0
What factors lead a society to collapse? Diamond explores this question in Collapse. A collapsed society, in this context, is one where the human population disappears or decreases dramatically within a region. Thus, for the purposes of this book, a society conquered in war but with the population largely intact is not a collapse and a society where everyone chooses to leave a region is.
So what causes societies to collapse? There are many factors, and Diamond, in his signature stories, weaves those factors into an entertaining fabric that mixes principles with illustrating examples. The commonality in these stories are societies that grow their resource use to the point where they reach the sustainable capacity of their environment. The collapse occurs when something happens, e.g., the society continues to increase usage beyond the limits of sustainability or something (like a long drought) happens to decrease the environmental capacity. The details are more interesting than the conclus
Failures teach us many lessons, and so do successes. After outlining the factors that contribute to the failures of many societies, Diamond talks about the factors which help societies survive the factors which lead to collapse. Between these two viewpoints, we learn that we are not that different from earlier societies. We face some new challenges, but it's largely the same: interconnected societies in delicate environments depleting their forests and soil and dealing with climate changes. Not all difficulties of the past led to collapse, so we should feel hopeful that if we face our choices strength, we can once again survive these challenges.
So what causes societies to collapse? There are many factors, and Diamond, in his signature stories, weaves those factors into an entertaining fabric that mixes principles with illustrating examples. The commonality in these stories are societies that grow their resource use to the point where they reach the sustainable capacity of their environment. The collapse occurs when something happens, e.g., the society continues to increase usage beyond the limits of sustainability or something (like a long drought) happens to decrease the environmental capacity. The details are more interesting than the conclus
Failures teach us many lessons, and so do successes. After outlining the factors that contribute to the failures of many societies, Diamond talks about the factors which help societies survive the factors which lead to collapse. Between these two viewpoints, we learn that we are not that different from earlier societies. We face some new challenges, but it's largely the same: interconnected societies in delicate environments depleting their forests and soil and dealing with climate changes. Not all difficulties of the past led to collapse, so we should feel hopeful that if we face our choices strength, we can once again survive these challenges.
matthewabush's review against another edition
4.0
I find books by Diamond to be a fun read and you usually learn something too. Collapse was good, but Guns, Germs, and Steel was better.
anniejohannie's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting, but long-winded and redundant. I recommend the first half.
fortunesdear's review against another edition
3.0
Read about half in high school for a class and liked what I read. I don’t plan to pick the book back up though and finish it. I am just rating it here and marking it as read to get it off my to be read shelf.
mikecross's review against another edition
4.0
Another excellent Jared Diamond book. While a little dated, it is still very relevant and enjoyable, especailly the history of different societies and how that either overcame or collapsed because of environmental factors. Gets a little long and repetative, but that's okay.
birdnerdbookworm's review against another edition
2.0
I'm only familiar with a couple of Diamond's case studies used in this book and I found them to be gross over simplifications of events. It felt like he was trying to make everything fit within the framework of his primary thesis of environmental collapses, which meant all other possible causes had to be thrown out. If this is the case with the examples I am familiar with, it's hard for me to fully trust that Diamond is telling the complete story of each case study presented in the book. While the overall thesis may be true, I think Diamond tries too hard to get everything to align perfectly with the thesis. It all felt too forced.
And don't get me started on Diamond's fantasy that he can play the role of a political scientist. His attempts were laughable at best, but more often infuriating.
And don't get me started on Diamond's fantasy that he can play the role of a political scientist. His attempts were laughable at best, but more often infuriating.