Thoughts on "Guns, Germs, and Steel" By Jared Diamon?

Question: Thoughts on "Guns, Germs, and Steel" By Jared Diamon!?

good!? bad!? accurate!? informative!? further reading suggestions!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

I liked the book for it's novel approach describing the environmental influence on the spread of civilization!. It gives an importance to the environment that goes beyond discussing "treehuggers ;)" or explaining how life fits into an ecosystem!. However, I really enjoyed his more recent book; "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" (2005), In this book he discusses how former civilizations handled the slow elimination of an important natural resource in their environment!. I did not find it a very optimistic prediction of how society will handle the peak oil and beyond, but it was very informative!. "1491 New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus" by Charles C!. Mann was also a great book!. Usually you have some idea of a history but this was startling and eyeopening!. From there I read "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore and am now mostly through"Plan B 3!.0: Mobilizing to save Civilization" by Lester R!. Brown!. In between I have read a few novels and listened to a few audio books including "Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives" by Edwin Black

We are living in very interesting times!. I think the next 5 years are going to bring major changes to our world!. I like to try and keep up a little!. I will enjoy looking for more suggestions!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

This book was recomended reading for my Enviromental Science class!. The teacher seemed good hearted but biased in the same way the author seemed to be!. The book is informative though, the points made are tenable and interesting!. To me it seems to state the obvious in that a technically superior culture tends to dominate and subjigate other peoples!.!.!.!. This book is a must read if your are interested in the area of study, with my caveat understood!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I read it about 9 years ago!.

It provides a plausible reason as to why the Europeans were able to dominate the indigenous world!. I think the "germs" part had more to do with the actual conquest then the "guns" and "steel" parts, however!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A few friends of mine read it and really loved it!. They found it to be informative, but I haven't read it so I can't give you any further details than that!. Sorry!Www@QuestionHome@Com