|
Loading... Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1997)by Jared Diamond
  
Favourite Books (57) » 25 more Unread books (33) Top Five Books of 2013 (517) Books Read in 2013 (84) Top Five Books of 2014 (1,055) Five star books (400) Big tags (1) Reading list (32) Allie's Wishlist (62) No current Talk conversations about this book. A very fascinating look at just about everything that contributed to humans going from neanderthals to modern man. It explores domestication (the hows and whys of what ended up domesticated versus what's still wild [if not extinct]), types of governing (or lack thereof), how and why some societies don't develop certain technologies (including writing and animal husbandry), and how and why some societies have simply refused to "modernize." (  ) benuathanasia | Sep 10, 2016 |  Dense, academic, slow and possessing an onslaught of illustrative examples. Not the most entertaining read, and I probably retained very little. Worthy of a Pulitzer? Absolutely. (  ) Sandydog1 | Jul 13, 2016 | Diamond is amazing... I wish I had read this before I read Collapse, but still, the ideas are timely. By looking back at the factors that contributed to the growth of modern civilizations, we see that it is luck, and not divine providence or biological superiority, but luck and geographic circumstance that explains much of human history. (  ) GaryAckermanPhD | May 1, 2016 | history that takes into account and explores why some make it and some did not do as well. ( ) Mikenielson | Apr 23, 2016 | Widely read and popular, Guns, germs and steel. The fates of human societies has a simple and compelling thesis: Geography lies at the basis of the success of civilizations. The long horizontal axis spanning the Eurasian continent resulted in successful transmission of cultural and agricultural discoveries, while the vertical axes of the American and African continents were less conducive to such promotion. Thus, the civilizations on the Eurasian continent were ultimately more successful than civilizations of other continents. Guns, germs and steel. The fates of human societies includes descriptions of all continents and major civilizations, with some more prominence for places the author knows better from previous work. The fact that the book first appeared in 1997, 1999 does not seem to be of major impact. Although in the meantime significant progress has been made in describing human ancestry, new findings do not seem to undermine or challenge Diamond's thesis on main points. Guns, germs and steel. The fates of human societies does take a rather reductionist stance, and the main arguments in the conquest of Latin America seem to be a bit forced, downplaying simple luck. Psychological traits of the conquerers, such as agression, deceit and drive to conquer are not juxtaposed to the characteristics of other peoples in the world. Still, Guns, germs and steel. The fates of human societies remains a very interesting book to read. ( ) edwinbcn | Apr 22, 2016 |
 In ''Guns, Germs, and Steel,'' an ambitious, highly important book, Jared Diamond asks: How did Pizarro come to be at Cajamarca capturing Atahualpa, instead of Atahualpa in Madrid capturing King Charles I? Why, indeed, did Europeans (and especially western Europeans) and Asians always triumph in their historical conquests of other populations? Why weren't Native Americans, Africans and aboriginal Australians instead the ones who enslaved or exterminated the Europeans?  Jared Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope: a history of the world in less than 500 pages which succeeds admirably, where so many others have failed, in analysing some of the basic workings of cultural process. . . It is willing to simplify and to generalize; and it does reach conclusions, about ultimate as well as proximate causes, that carry great conviction, and that have rarely, perhaps never, been stated so coherently or effectively before. For that reason, and with few reservations, this book may be welcomed as one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years. ContainsHas the adaptationIs abridged inHas as a studyHas as a commentary on the text
References to this work on external resources.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Book description |
|
| Haiku summary |
|
(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:12:33 -0400)
Why did Eurasians conquer, displace, or decimate Native Americans, Australians, and Africans, instead of the reverse? In this groundbreaking book, evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors actually responsible for history's broadest patterns. Here, at last, is a world history that really is a history of all the world's peoples, a unified narrative of human life even more intriguing and important than accounts of dinosaurs and glaciers. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world, and its inequalities, came to be. It is a work rich in dramatic revelations that will fascinate readers even as it challenges conventional wisdom.… (more)
Quick Links |
Google Books — Loading...| Swap | Ebooks | Audio |
| 7 avail. 840 wanted |
(4.13)| 0.5 |  4 |
| 1 | 38 |
| 1.5 | 17 |
| 2 | 112 |
| 2.5 | 42 |
| 3 | 504 |
| 3.5 | 159 |
| 4 | 1376 |
| 4.5 | 209 |
| 5 | 1443 |
3 editions of this book were published by Audible.com.
W.W. Norton2 editions of this book were published by W.W. Norton.
Editions: 0393317552, 0393061310
HighBridge AudioAn edition of this book was published by HighBridge Audio.
HighBridgeAn edition of this book was published by HighBridge.
Become a LibraryThing Author.
13
Wikipedia in English (46)
