Paperback
Published April 29, 2005 by W.W. Norton and Company.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (previously titled Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years) is a 1997 transdisciplinary non-fiction book by Jared Diamond. In 1998, Guns, Germs, and Steel won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction and the Aventis Prize for Best Science Book. A documentary based on the book, and produced by the National Geographic Society, was broadcast on PBS in July 2005.The book attempts to explain why Eurasian and North African civilizations have survived and conquered others, while arguing against the idea that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or inherent genetic superiority. Diamond argues that the gaps in power and technology between human societies originate primarily in environmental differences, which are amplified by various positive feedback loops. When cultural or genetic differences have favored Eurasians (for example, written language or the …
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (previously titled Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years) is a 1997 transdisciplinary non-fiction book by Jared Diamond. In 1998, Guns, Germs, and Steel won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction and the Aventis Prize for Best Science Book. A documentary based on the book, and produced by the National Geographic Society, was broadcast on PBS in July 2005.The book attempts to explain why Eurasian and North African civilizations have survived and conquered others, while arguing against the idea that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or inherent genetic superiority. Diamond argues that the gaps in power and technology between human societies originate primarily in environmental differences, which are amplified by various positive feedback loops. When cultural or genetic differences have favored Eurasians (for example, written language or the development among Eurasians of resistance to endemic diseases), he asserts that these advantages occurred because of the influence of geography on societies and cultures (for example, by facilitating commerce and trade between different cultures) and were not inherent in the Eurasian genomes.
I understand the historian perspective on this book is very negative but I thoroughly enjoyed and was convinced by it at the time
I am not a historian, thus I cannot speak to the validity of specific details he provides, but Jared Diamond builds his thesis on why western societies dominate the globe today, on such solid groundwork, that I cannot imagine the broad strokes of his theory being refuted in the future. The book gives an overview about the evolutionary biology of crops and livestock, prehistory, history, geography and the influences of each field on the others. A large focus is put on the areas of Southeast-Asia/Oceania and South America. As a layman with general knowledge of the topics (I watch too much science YouTube) I found everything comprehensible, though many theses are repeated so many times, that often I got confused and could not tell wether I already read a section or not. In summary, if you are like me and watch a lot of science YouTube, this book will give …
I am not a historian, thus I cannot speak to the validity of specific details he provides, but Jared Diamond builds his thesis on why western societies dominate the globe today, on such solid groundwork, that I cannot imagine the broad strokes of his theory being refuted in the future. The book gives an overview about the evolutionary biology of crops and livestock, prehistory, history, geography and the influences of each field on the others. A large focus is put on the areas of Southeast-Asia/Oceania and South America. As a layman with general knowledge of the topics (I watch too much science YouTube) I found everything comprehensible, though many theses are repeated so many times, that often I got confused and could not tell wether I already read a section or not. In summary, if you are like me and watch a lot of science YouTube, this book will give you a bit of a deeper insight into the developement of human society without focusing too much on a single discipline.
Jared Diamond gave human history the scientific treatment. I would be interested in his analysis of more specific events, but the more specific he gets, the more his model breaks down. It's really a macro model. I like military history; I wonder if he could/would study war and give it a similar treatment. I bet it would be illuminating.
