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A review by kevin_milne
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
3.0
As someone who has already read Harrari's "Sapiens" - a lot of the information in this book was familliar, albeit "Guns, Germs, and Steel" has a slightly more narrow focus.
Wonderful infotainment, to say the least, I've always found Anthropological studies to be my subject of choice when seeking knowledge in a leisure-type-way. That said, a lot of this book's second half is overwrought, redundant or repetitive.
Diamond essentially proves his point in part one, explaining the environmental factors present in Eurasia that allowed these peoples a head start on the track to progress- the superiority of the domestic animals available, the east-west nature of the continent allowing for rapid spread of useful agricultural plants, to name the two most pertinent. The result is Eurasia's agricultural revolution began between 5 and 3 thousand years earlier, and on a much larger scale, than that of Africa, America, or Australasia.
This point, albeit an thorough and interesting thesis, is revealed early and the book moves on to several case studies supporting it, leaving this book smouldering like a fire that burned too quick.
Worth a read, though.
Wonderful infotainment, to say the least, I've always found Anthropological studies to be my subject of choice when seeking knowledge in a leisure-type-way. That said, a lot of this book's second half is overwrought, redundant or repetitive.
Diamond essentially proves his point in part one, explaining the environmental factors present in Eurasia that allowed these peoples a head start on the track to progress- the superiority of the domestic animals available, the east-west nature of the continent allowing for rapid spread of useful agricultural plants, to name the two most pertinent. The result is Eurasia's agricultural revolution began between 5 and 3 thousand years earlier, and on a much larger scale, than that of Africa, America, or Australasia.
This point, albeit an thorough and interesting thesis, is revealed early and the book moves on to several case studies supporting it, leaving this book smouldering like a fire that burned too quick.
Worth a read, though.