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Summary: Should be Required Reading
Review: This book is an absolute necessity for any person who values education: science or the humanities. This book should form the basis of a requried course for every collage in the nation. That is how strongly I value this work. His research is overwealming, yet it is readable. Sending copies to your anthropologically inclined friends will win points.
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Summary: A fresh look at the evolution of societies
Review: Yali's question: why indeed do the Europeans have more cargo then the Papuans? The author asserts that the answer lies in the proximate causes--Guns, Germs and Steel. He goes on to explore why history transpired as it did: what were the ultimate causes that enabled the Europeans to possess those three proximate causes of victory when the collision between civilizations came about?It is a compelling book. The idea may be old, themes trite, but the author looks affresh at the evidence thus far, and weaves a fine piece of work. Some readers may feel that the author has overlooked the role played by culture (religion, language, tradition, etc.) and chance. One may legitimately wonder why the Fertile Cresent, despite possessing the most conducive environement for the growth of civilization is not leading the race now. I don't think the criticism is fair. The author, I believe, have discounted those aspects simply because their lack of importance to what he sets out to prove: why the Europeans possessed the proximate causes of victory that other civilizations lacked? Those who are interested in cultural, organizational, political and economic factors should consult David Landes's book.
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Summary: Amazingly smart and original
Review: General statements about the decisive weight of "birth" factors in the trayectory of living systems has been probably presented before, but never with such scope and with so a detailed examination of the precise chain of causation as Mr Diamond has done in this work. Mr Diamond takes nothing less than the entire human history and for his understanding he use for good an absolutely original approach that, supported in the findings of several sciences, put the root of all in a distant past of which seldom an historian had given too much attention before. And if that was not enough, he does so with cristal-clear prose that makes you read it with the same rush from beginning to end as if you were reading a top best seller writter, at his best. An incredible work. Surely Mr Diamond has all the trademarks of genius: powerful and simple, unified explanation of many things, at the same time compelling and thrilling.
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Summary: Excellent ideas make the poor writing style a detail.
Review: I thought that since the ideas of the book were so good, it didn't matter that they were written in a fairly repetetive manner. After reading some of the negative reviews I realize that for many people that read the book, the poor writing style disabled them from UNDERSTANDING the content. Dont let the unintelligent criticism below scare you, most of them are just proof that they didn't not really understand what the book was about. Although you will read an idea several times in this 400+page book (which could easily be reduced to 250'ish) it will nevertheless be an elightening, intersting and revealing idea. Definately a must read (and based on the negative criticism I would say a definate carefull read). Buy it now!
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Summary: A Vindication of Guns, Germs and Steel
Review: In his provocative work Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond advances a thesis proclaiming that environmental and ecological factors were of primary importance in determining the eventual rise of the West. In order to accomplish this mission Diamond surveys the vast expanses of human history and traces the development of societies on the different continents with an emphasis on the environmental factors which contributed to their varied levels of development. Undergirding his argument is the logical assumption that men are inherently equal, at least in terms of their capacities for reasoning and development. The necessary outgrowth which flows from this basic assumption is that cultural or societal differentiation must be explained not by differences between groups of people, but by differences in their environments. As all begin with the same capabilities and potentials, the resulting differences must be found in how the various environments within which different groups found themselves, or chose to occupy, shaped their societies. It is the causal chain begun by environmental differentiation which Diamond attempts to explain in Guns, Germs and Steel. While Diamond has been criticized for ignoring the role of nonenvironmental factors such as religion, this is a criticism which has been unfairly leveled against him. Because Diamond is intentionally focusing on ultimate causes, and not on proximate causes (the final links in a chain of causality which may have led directly to a certain result, but which are themselves the result of more significant and distant causes), he does not and does not need to discuss such factors as religion. Religion is simply a proximate cause which can itself be explained by society's response to the set of factors (at their root, environmental) which Diamond is intent on describing. In short, Diamond's work is not perfect, but it provides a thesis which is as coherent and complete as permitted by the nature of his inquiry (you try describing a process that occurs over many millenia without relying on inference to some extent). It does not ignore the "true" (aka final) causes of the West's rise, it simply relegates them to their proper position as simply other symptoms of a more all encompassing chain of causation. This is no oversight and nothing to lament. A study of such causes is a worthy enterprise, but it is one that is entirely separate from Diamond's undertaking in Guns, Germs and Steel.
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Summary: Not the complete story, but a vital part of it
Review: Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel touches upon very important historical factors in the race for hegmony and world domination. While much of Diamond's thesis is neither revolutionary nor original, it captures many elements that explain why certain world civilizations thrived and others were conquered. While many on the right criticize Diamond's hypothesis, claiming that it does not account for the difficulties such as famines and plagues faced in Europe, they fail to see the greater picture that Diamond's thesis points to. It is not only resources, and location that affected who dominated and who was dominated, these factors alone did not create the modern world. Instead, coupled with these factors was competition. Where competition was greatest, there was the most incentive to change rapidly, to develop new methods of production and of warfare. When describing the Spaniards conquest of the native Americans, Diamond makes it clear that the Spaniards were able to dominate because becoming dominant in Europe was so difficult. Competition was the engine driving innovation, so the unorganized, quarrelling states of Europe succeeded in pushing ahead while the dormant and passive dynastic nations to the west and to the east stagnated after periods of incredible growth and development. There's no denying the validity of this claim and the impact of geography and resources on the fate of civilizations. A divided Europe comprised of many small, independent states was in constant flux and conflict. More isolated and unified civilizations like China reached their high period earlier on, achieving things millenia ahead of the Europeans, then stagnating in their advancement because there was no need to advance. There was no constant threat of conflict and competition driving innovation. This is no doubt a complicated and complex story, and a solid understanding of it depends upon an understanding of the arguments that Diamond puts forward so clearly in this book. A fascinating study, Diamond's book covers broad topics in an intriguing multi-discipline fashion, drawing upon many of the natural and social sciences to help shed light on this most formidable tale we call the story of man.
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Summary: Ideas, Scholarship and Inspiration: Popular Writing
Review: Jared Diamond set out to do two very difficult things in this book: first, by his own admission, to summarize in one book 13,000 years of homo sapiens' history, and second, to write a popular, entry level book about the complexities of geographical and environmental determinism. To his credit, he brings both off very well. Diamonds' thesis, as noted by other reviewers, is that the triumph of western culture traces in large measure to accidents of geography and environment. In particular, the east-west orientation of Eurasia and the abundance of usable crop species and animal species in Eurasia in general and the Fertile Crescent in particular. The ability to create domestic crops and domestic animals, by his reasoning, led through a series of steps to the development of larger communities, the development of technology, and the triumph of the West. Diamond's critics accuse him of political correctness, of over-simplification and determinism. I don't believe any of those criticisms is accurate. Diamond frankly admits he is challenging the myth of caucasian inherent superiority. The sense of outrage some reviewers express when Diamond states that the most intelligent man he knows is a New Guinean "primitive" more or less proves Diamond's point. By confusing intelligence with education, and a subsistence culture with technological culture, those critics demonstrate and illustrate the myth Diamond addresses. Half of his critics accuse Diamond of oversimplification; the other half complain that he repeats points and that the book is hard to read. I think this is mostly reaction to the common problem of a scholarly subject being treated in a popularization. It is a very difficult thing for a scientist to write a popularization of his or her subject that isn't either condescendingly simplistic or too complex for lay readers. Diamond strikes a nice balance. Finally, critics claim that Diamond is asserting a kind of determinism that denies free will and understates cultural variables. They point to cultural variables like religion (the aggressiveness of Christianity and Moslem beliefs, for example), social, intellectual and others that are overwhelmingly important today. Those critics are missing Diamond's key point: it was those geographical and environmental factors he identifies that made the development of those cultural variables possible. Overall, this book is a very significant contribution to lay understanding of why the West "has more cargo" than other cultures. It is not intended to be a work of pure scholarship; it doesn't pretend that this is the Complete and Final Answer. It is frank in identifying issues still be be addressed. I strongly recommend it to any reader who wants to better understand the world we have inherited.
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Summary: lousy style, lousy approach, lazy writing
Review: Oh God. Diamond insults his readers by assuring them that they think Western culture is the epitome of human progress so that he can admonish them for their errors, then spends hundreds of pages justifying his obvious fondness for the New Guineans by asserting that they're clearly the smartest folks on Earth. His supercilious tone, his constant, mind-numbing rehashing of the same ideas, his clunky half-cribbed logic, make this one of the most disappointing books of the last few years. The sad thing is that many of these ideas are sound. There is a valid basis for the argument that some accidents of geography favored Europeans, such as the latitudinal axis of the landmass. But these points are made 100 times better in the books of William McNeill. "The Shape of European History" is a fantastic discussion of Europe's natural advantages, while "Plagues and Peoples" discusses with intelligence and an engaging, down-to-earth style the effect of disease on world history. McNeill doesn't indulge himself in broad untenable assertions or a precious, disingenuous style. It's frustrating that such a fascinating subject gets such a lousy treatment.
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Summary: Interesting ... But is it relavant today?
Review: An interesting analysis of history. A little repetative at times. The question that came to me as I finished this book: Just how relavant this is today? Is geography and food production still an important factor in cultural dominance or has Technology - especially Telecommunication and Transportation technologies - negated or replaced these factors so important to our past.
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Summary: Special
Review: The book has a good deal of valuable history and science in it. Unfortunately, they are put to an unworthy use. Diamond is intent on reminding us that western culture does not deserve its dominant place in the world. Not that western culture didn't have the natural assets he deems useful. It's that western culture isn't nice enough or smart enough to be where it is. There are some laughably transparent cases of special pleading. One of his New Guinea tribes must be smarter than practically anybody else because most meetings with a stranger have a potential for lethal combat. That they can figure out how to escape such an introduction must mean they're smart. How about they're dumb to have such a culture? A vague and huge ancient language group includes both North Africa and classical Greece. This should, he says, surprise people who think Greece is notable by itself. As if the glory that was Greece should be spread out to North Africa because their proto-language might have been the same. Or the North Africans started the whole thing. Pizarro defeated the Incas because the Inca was illiterate. The Inca didn't understand the depths of European duplicity. Not having read some European history. The Inca in question had just conquered a rival in a bloody civil war, but was a child in intrigue. Who takes this stuff seriously? One blurb on the jacket told us that the book was going a long way in the battle against racism. I should have known.
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