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priyamroy 's review for:
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond
I can see how this book might have been incredible when it had been published, but unfortunately, a lot of the material is outdated as of now. I tried not to be too critical of that, however, as it's obvious that a lot of work went into writing it. In my opinion, Jared Diamond makes plenty of good points but consistently focuses too much on certain aspects of his overall message. This results in him overexplaining some things and disregarding other important topics. An example of this is his constant focus on New Guinea to back his theories about other civilizations, this method of explanation overlooks many factors and, honestly, gets quite annoying. Additionally, it's important to remember that Diamond is not a historian, which means he has only studied what he is writing about briefly and thus his conclusions on certain matters are very opinionated and are subject to logical fallacies.
I would have opted for a 3 star rating had his chapter on North America not started in 1492, there is a vast amount of ignored history prior to that date. Columbus doesn't define the starting point of history in North and South America, the eurocentrism of suggesting so is baffling.
I would have opted for a 3 star rating had his chapter on North America not started in 1492, there is a vast amount of ignored history prior to that date. Columbus doesn't define the starting point of history in North and South America, the eurocentrism of suggesting so is baffling.