Diamond, Jared

• Guns, Germs and Steel

  • This is a fascinating interdisciplinary look at the history of civilization, specifically addressing the question of why, given the astonishing genetic similarity between so many civilizations on the different continents, the history of development of these has been so amazingly divergent. Diamond makes a very interesting case against any kind of genetic explanation (mainly by noting that there is no correlation between genetic divergence between different civilizations and technological divergence) and instead goes into fascinating detail about the various resources available in different parts of the world as the crucial factor. It turns out that the fertile crescent had more of a "complete package" of different kinds of resouces (not all resources are "good" at first glance, such as the tendency of livestock to spread disease, which is a benefit since it culls a civilization based upon immunity early on rather than disastrously later when an immune population meets up with an unexposed group), and this allowed civilizations starting there to advance more quickly than any others. He goes on to discuss the specifics of history in various parts of the world, drawing general lessons from each region. Fantastic book.

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