A review by jwsg
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive by Jared Diamond

4.0

Collapse takes some perseverence to get through but it's well worth the effort. I'd attempted reading the book before but set it down because it's long and somewhat dense and not the easiest of books to read in fits and starts during the commute to work, waiting for friends, etc. Jared Diamond's a bit of a Renaissance man, having developed careers as a professor in physiology, an ornithologist (in New Guinean birds),a professor of geography, etc. His wide range of interests comes through in Collapse, which is a whirlwind tour through time and space, covering modern day Montana and Australia, to the Vikings, Anasazi, Mayans, Tokogawa Japan and Polynesia, to name a few places. He does have a tendency to repeat himself or belabour the point in some sections (his book could have been say, 490 pages instead of 520) but all in all, if you're the sort of person who loves random facts and have a soft spot for anthropology/history, you'll probably love this book.