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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Pop science book with some of interesting facts, stories, useful ideas. It devotes a lot of time to looking at societies interact with and are ultimately affected by their environment and resources. It has a good narrative, but often presents that as fact with more certainty than seems warranted by the underlying material. Pacing was inconsistent, I ended up skimming a number of chapters. Could have been a quarter of the length, but still ok.
Almost mind-numbingly boring in the beginning - just because I'm not interested in the methodology of people who study pollen for a living, and stuff like that, but I'm sure to some it would be fascinating. It gets a lot better towards the end though. But it is hard to imagine the collapse that he is predicting if we don't change our ways. I think his arguments make sense, it's just, as he admits, almost impossible to imagine our society collapsing. He says it should all come to a head in the next 50 years though, so that should be interesting.
I originally read this a couple years ago, but I have a more nuanced view of it after having written a paper for my course last fall on the topic. Diamond does unfortunately cherry-pick his examples, essentially to back up his argument that Collapse = Ecological suicide.
The truth is way more nuanced; no two collapses look quite the same, many kinds of collapse can actually be very beneficial to society at large, and what follows a collapse can be surprising. We should not limit our view of collapse to "the end of life as we know it", even if systemic societal changes can seem scary to those of us who are very comfortable with the status quo.
What Diamond does well, which anthropologists and historians are not so good at, is highlighting the human cost of unsustainable systems (which is his main concern, really). For this, he definitely gets credit.
The truth is way more nuanced; no two collapses look quite the same, many kinds of collapse can actually be very beneficial to society at large, and what follows a collapse can be surprising. We should not limit our view of collapse to "the end of life as we know it", even if systemic societal changes can seem scary to those of us who are very comfortable with the status quo.
What Diamond does well, which anthropologists and historians are not so good at, is highlighting the human cost of unsustainable systems (which is his main concern, really). For this, he definitely gets credit.
More engaging and easier to read than "Guns, Germs, and Steel," (which I only read half of) - however, the two books repeat themselves on many occasions. Good overview although somewhat repetitive. Wish I knew more and could give a better critique.
I love Jared Diamond's books and this one had a lot of interesting information, as usual. But I felt the overall narrative was pretty lacking.
slow-paced
Well written and easy to read, this book clearly states the case why protecting the environment is so important.
If I had to make a silly summary of this book it would be "Man, deforestation sure is a slippery slope". My favorite thing about Diamond is how he takes into account all factors that have influenced a societal collapse. Not declaring it was one thing or another for certain. This book has a healthy dose of both pessimism and optimism for the future. Imagine the books they'll write about us!
I really enjoyed the discussion of factors leading to the decline of Easter Island and Greenland civilizations, especially. As he moved forward through time to more recent societal upheavals in Rwanda, Haiti, and China, the book was every bit as good but much more challenging to keep myself reading--basically very hard to sit still when what he has written makes me feel like I should be somewhere else planting trees. As with Guns, Germs and Steel I'm grateful to Dr. Diamond for making his scholarship so accessible.
I'll probably post a longer review later, once I've collected my thoughts. I adored this book. As someone who studies conflicts for a living, it was fascinating to me to read a well-informed argument in favor of environmental decline as a contributing factor to conflict and societal failure. The societies chosen for the book were fascinating societies I wanted to know more about anyway. While the number of pages dedicated to the Norse may have been a tad unnecessary, I never got bored. Truly an important read!