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juju · 03-04-2003, 11:26 AM

<i>Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies</i>, by Jared Diamond.

This book asks the question, "Why did civilization develop at such different rates on the different continents?" For example, why didn't the Africans or the Native Americans grow in power and then conquer the Europeans? On the surface, the answer seems to be because the Europeans developed certain technologies first. Thus, they were more powerful, and were able to conquer peoples. But why were they able to do this before anyone else? The author proposes that it was not just random chance, but the evironment they lived in. It was the domesticatability of the plants and animals in the area they lived in (and the areas to the east and west of them) that enabled them to change from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural societies. The better food production then enabled some people to do nothing but research a certain topic.

It's a history book, and it won the pulitzer prize. It's written from a biological evolutional perspective, though, and I really like the scientific approach the author uses to try to take on these historical questions. The way that the different fields that the author has studied merge into one grand theory is really interesting.

I just got this book, so I have yet to get very far into it. But I can't wait to see what the author's ideas are.

03-04-2003, 11:26 AM	#3
juju no one of consequence Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Arkansas Posts: 2,839	<i>Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies</i>, by Jared Diamond. This book asks the question, "Why did civilization develop at such different rates on the different continents?" For example, why didn't the Africans or the Native Americans grow in power and then conquer the Europeans? On the surface, the answer seems to be because the Europeans developed certain technologies first. Thus, they were more powerful, and were able to conquer peoples. But why were they able to do this before anyone else? The author proposes that it was not just random chance, but the evironment they lived in. It was the domesticatability of the plants and animals in the area they lived in (and the areas to the east and west of them) that enabled them to change from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural societies. The better food production then enabled some people to do nothing but research a certain topic. It's a history book, and it won the pulitzer prize. It's written from a biological evolutional perspective, though, and I really like the scientific approach the author uses to try to take on these historical questions. The way that the different fields that the author has studied merge into one grand theory is really interesting. I just got this book, so I have yet to get very far into it. But I can't wait to see what the author's ideas are. Last edited by juju; 03-04-2003 at 11:32 AM.