An incredibly informative read. Highly recommended to anyone who's not afraid of facts about the history of the human civilization. ( )

I cannot bear to retract the 5 stars I originally gave this book that inspired my fascination with 'Big History': long-term, globally comparative history that attempts to answer questions like why Europe, and not China or any other civilization, went on to conquer the globe. So much of the content is fascinating, especially the role of the biogeography of plants, animals and diseases in history.

But the central line of argument, that European conquest of so much of the rest of the world was determined by biogeography, and specifically that one can work back from Pizarro's capture of Atahualpa to the geographical base of world history, has been subject to coruscating criticism. Diamond stands accused of such mistakes as taking conquistadors at their word on how their guns, horses and bravado overwhelmed the Aztecs and Incas, while ignoring the role of native allies in what were in reality interventions in civil wars; inaccurately attributing epidemic diseases which killed millions of Native American to Eurasian livestock; and obfuscating the role of colonial enslavement and oppression in the Native American death toll. See:

https://www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/2bv2yf/guns_germs_and_steel_chapter...

https://www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/2cfhon/guns_germs_and_steel_chapter...

The thesis is too simple. It's not quite right. But where it is wrong, it is at least interestingly wrong, and further reading to work out how and why it is wrong is very worthwhile.

To read as a counterpoint: [b:Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest|174710|Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest|Matthew Restall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390408627s/174710.jpg|168768] ( )

Amazing read! It is unexpected how much I enjoyed reading this, especially since the main focus being of history through the lenses of geography and science in their many technical facets. I usually find these subjects a bore, especially geography, but I am currently trying to read more of them. Alhamdulilah, this book only contributed to furthering my interest in these subjects, not lessening it.

What I learnt was how interconnected so much of the world already was, thousands if not tens of thousands of years ago. Indeed, this is so much so that I've been thinking of the term 'Eurasia' a lot lately in contrast to 'Europe' and 'Asia' as we know it today. Diamond gives fascinating insights into the developmental effects upon a society by factors such as: food production, geography, climate, proximity to other societies and even the axis of continents. He takes a very broad approach of singling out continents rather than specific nations or empires, and a timeline spanning thousands of years rather than centuries or decades. Further, he compares classes of hunter gatherers, bands, tribes and empires.

Diamond is careful to note of specific critiques of 'geographical determinism'. I personally had some slight impressions of this before reading it, however, I really think it's just explaining history through the factoring in of many different scientific fields. It doesn't have to be one or the other, I still lean very much towards societies having the ability in choosing their own course, but within the material parameters set out by their times I suppose.

The central question of this book ("Yali's Question") is why Europeans colonised the New World rather than vice versa. And finishing the book, I think Diamond better answered the question 'why certain empires from the Old World were able to conquer the New World rather than vice versa'. Thus, he gives the factors behind both landmasses into their trajectories in material advancements and explains their clashes during first contact.

Along the way there's chapters dedicated to early humans and their migration patterns, the earliest food producing civilisations around the Fertile Crescent, the Chinese expansion, the Indonesian migration (indeed, all the way to Africa and Australia!), the clashes between hunter gatherer and food producing societies etc.

There's a lot this book has made me think about. I recommend it to everyone with even a slightest interest in history or human societies in general.
( )

I really wanted to like this book but oh my I doubt his writing could have been any more boring. Totally reads like a textbook, and the author restates the same things over and over and over again.
Academics have the unique ability to take any subject, no matter how interesting or fascinating and they somehow make it painful and boring to read about. ( )

I somewhat enjoyed this book. The author covers a tremendous volume of information and does so relatively well. I admit, I had to press through some of the chapters as they were less engaging than others, but I guess that is to be expected in a book of this type, tackling such a large topic. I had been on my tbr for some time and I’m glad I read it. ( )