StarAstrologer - Books : Guns,Germs, and Steel
Binding: Audio Cassette
Dewey Decimal Number: 304
EAN: 9781879557543
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 1879557541
Label: Audio Scholar
Manufacturer: Audio Scholar
Number Of Items: 4
Publication Date: October 25, 1998
Publisher: Audio Scholar
Sales Rank: 787941
Studio: Audio Scholar
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
13,000 years of human history,beginning when stone-age gathers constituted the entire population.
Amazon.com Review:
Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents the biologist's answer: geography, demography, and ecological happenstance. Diamond evenhandedly reviews human history on every continent since the Ice Age at a rate that emphasizes only the broadest movements of peoples and ideas. Yet his survey is binocular: one eye has the rather distant vision of the evolutionary biologist, while the other eye--and his heart--belongs to the people of New Guinea, where he has done field work for more than 30 years.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I've seen so many critiques and reviews on the internet, from scholars and professional reviewers, that seem like they haven't even read the book. For almost every critique that can be raised, Jared Daimond addresses it in his book already. If you will just read the book yourself, in its entirety, you will see what I mean. This book and the broad explanations he puts forward are pretty much beyond reproach, not least because of their broad scope.
Many criticisms can be refuted because ... Read More
Rating: -
In the first half of the book Diamond presents his thesis why certain continents are richer than other continents. This is fascinating reading as long as Diamond describes pre-historic times. His arguments are the strongest I have seen so far. Diamond is much less convincing when he moves to historic times and tries to explain differential performance within a given continent. The second half of the book describe individual continents and is quite tedious, but there is no need to read this section unless ... Read More
Rating: -
This is a truly profound book, and quite elegantly written. The central insight is how geography has been a main driving factor in the development of civilizations. Diamond comes at this thesis from several different angles, most importantly after looking at how development has differed between different regions.
Diamond builds a very compelling argument, and is helped by his intimate knowledge of many places - knowledge which comes from actually having spent quite a deal of traveling. He is also helped ... Read More
Rating:  -
This is a fascinating study of how societies developed, however, it's frustrating that Diamond takes such an ideological position at the outset, ruling out some factors simply because he doesn't like them.
"Inexcusably for an evolutionary biologist, Diamond fails to inform his readers that it is different environments that cause, via natural selection, biological differences among populations. All of the Eurasian developments he described created positive feedback loops selecting for increased intelligence ... Read More
Rating: -
Dr. Diamond's magnum opus for which he has won an Oscar. Or maybe it was the Pullet Surprise. Something like that.
Unrivaled, in the experience of this humble reviewer, in either clarity or insight, GGS, is one of the best books I have ever read. Diamond is a gifted writer and is able to present complex issues simply and clearly. He also presents several interesting hypotheses regarding the evolution of civilization about how the humans had uncomfortably little to do with anything. We are the products of the ... Read More
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