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Loading... Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1997)by Jared Diamond
  
Favourite Books (62) » 29 more Unread books (31) Top Five Books of 2013 (512) Top Five Books of 2017 (104) Books Read in 2013 (85) Top Five Books of 2014 (1,051) Five star books (479) Books Read in 2018 (3,255) Big tags (1) Reading list (32) Falling for Science (44) I Can't Finish This Book (111) Allie's Wishlist (80) No current Talk conversations about this book. Comienza muy bien, pero después de la mitad del libro comienza a repetir... (  ) maxtrek | Jan 30, 2019 |  This is a weighty book, ya'll. Jared Diamond's book had been on my list for ages because once upon a time it had been on one of my recommended reading lists for an undergraduate Anthropology class (I majored in that field). I didn't have the time to read it then (it is 425 pages after all) but the topic still intrigued me. Much like the book above I was interested in the subject matter and found no fault with the writing style (other than it being more like a textbook than casual, recreational reading) but it was so dense that I didn't always feel compelled to pick it up in a spare moment. (I also kept falling asleep for some reason.) Progress: I made it to page 290 before I had to concede defeat (and ship it to the next person waiting to read it). (  ) AliceaP | Jan 9, 2019 | Interesting but flawed analysis of the earliest development of the civilizations. He manages to keep readers engaged where others would fail. ( ) rdmhellyer | Nov 21, 2018 | This book includes “Guns” as in lots of war and weapons. “Germs” as in many types of dieseaes. “Steel” as in lots of armor and certain types of metal they would out of their body’s to protect themselves. Farming animals and soldiers providing lack of hunting skills and gathering supplies. Major portions of Europe and Asia had a natural advantage in developing agriculture. The landmass of Europe and Asia laid out on an east-west axis allowed for the sharing of crops, animals and ideas. The Americas stretched out on a north-south axis. Various climate zones and geographic boundaries that discourage trade would effect their daily lives. (  ) HaidinG.B4 | Oct 24, 2018 | The author goes into great depth on the topic. I've decided I do not want to devote the time to take it all in. It is not that he is wasting words. He covers the information thoroughly. I just found that I was not interested after reading 15% of the book. ajlewis2 | Jul 11, 2018 |
 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
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(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)
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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.
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