| |  | Books : Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies |  | | | | | | | | | |
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.4
EAN: 9780393061314
ISBN: 0393061310
Label: W. W. Norton
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 512
Publication Date: July 11, 2005
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Sales Rank: 484
Studio: W. W. Norton
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
With a new chapter. The phenomenal bestseller—over 1.5 million copies sold—is now a major PBS special.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs, and Steel is a brilliant work answering the question of why the peoples of certain continents succeeded in invading other continents and conquering or displacing their peoples. This edition includes a new chapter on Japan and all-new illustrations drawn from the television series. 32 illustrations.
Amazon.com Review:
Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of theWest has become the central problem in the study of globalhistory. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents thebiologist's answer: geography, demography, and ecologicalhappenstance. Diamond evenhandedly reviews human history on everycontinent since the Ice Age at a rate that emphasizes only thebroadest 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 NewGuinea, where he has done field work for more than 30 years.
Customer Reviews Average Rating: 
Rating:  - No Book is More Important
With over 1,000 reviews on Amazon it is quite unlikely you will read anything different in my review than all the other five star reviews.I must say that Jared Diamond has written an extraordinary book.The question he tackles with GGS is, "Why and how did wealth and power develop in some areas and not in others."
Diamond concludes that wealth and power can be contributed to several factors:an East/West axis, domesticable plants and animals, this results in food surpluses and thus ... Read More
Rating:  - Evil white men make the world a better place for everyone
This poor pampered professor while struggling at his work strolling along a beach in New Guinea is posed the question as to why Eurasian cultures have succeeded with technological developments but others haven't. IN over 300 pages he struggles to present an answer that could be presented in one sentence.
Its their BRAINS - they are wired differently
This is not racist. Its clear there are many physiological differences amongst various races. Eurasians for whatever reason ... Read More
Rating:  - Fascinating but repetitive
I won't give a synopsis of the book as there are plenty of other good reviews that cover that.I'll just say I found this book to have a fascinating and compelling argument for why history has gone the way it has.I did not find it to be racist or even biased as the author goes to great lengths to explain his every viewpoint and provides plenty of valid reasons against any kind of bias.
The biggest flaw of the book, in my mind at least, is that it is terribly repetitive.Diamond repeats ... Read More
Rating: - European Advantages
Professor Diamond takes up a very difficult question that spans centuries. He sets out to figure out why the Europeans were able to succeed not only in their enviornment, but control throughout the world.
Geography is something Diamond finds as a major factor. Geographic luck was able to determine that type of crops, and the conditions.
Diamond concludes that once the societies discovered how to produce enough food for themselves, then some of the other citizens were able to use ... Read More
Rating: - Why some societies advance faster than others.
It comes down to farming. Whoever farms first wins. Whichever society can not have to worry about what they are going to eat every day has the time to devote to innovation. The author's theory on a society's proximity to the equator does have some merit. I would have liked to have seen more discussion on how a society can hold itself back, such as Chinese rulers who burned their ships and stopped trade.
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