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A review by sfletcher26
Upheaval: How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change by Jared Diamond
3.0
I've not read all of Diamond's books but have read a number since Collapse came out about 15 yrs ago. He is for me one of those truely great writers who seems capable of condensing and simplifying some very complex ideas without ever dumbimg things down or patronising his reader. For me he is reminiscent of Oliver Sacks in this way.
Upheaval is something of a continuation of the themes of two of his previous books, the aforementioned Collapse and Guns, Germs and Steel, those of how societies react or fail to react to change atrophy and disappear. This time though Instead of merely examining how societies fail he focuses on how societies actually weather their precipitating crises utilising a model of personal crisis management.
Sadly though whilst for the most part this books works well its final third stays from his premise by trying to see what is wrong in the US at this time and posits, based on his model, what it must do to prevent the crises he sees coming it's way. Whilst this is interesting it does read more like a political polemic than anything else and whilst I don't disagree with his position it just feels out of place to me.
Overall a good book but sadly not a great one and certainly not as good as either Collapse of Guns, Germs and Steel.
Upheaval is something of a continuation of the themes of two of his previous books, the aforementioned Collapse and Guns, Germs and Steel, those of how societies react or fail to react to change atrophy and disappear. This time though Instead of merely examining how societies fail he focuses on how societies actually weather their precipitating crises utilising a model of personal crisis management.
Sadly though whilst for the most part this books works well its final third stays from his premise by trying to see what is wrong in the US at this time and posits, based on his model, what it must do to prevent the crises he sees coming it's way. Whilst this is interesting it does read more like a political polemic than anything else and whilst I don't disagree with his position it just feels out of place to me.
Overall a good book but sadly not a great one and certainly not as good as either Collapse of Guns, Germs and Steel.