A Magnum Opus - in every sense.

This is a "magnum opus" in all senses of the phrase, and deserved winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The question at the centre of the book is one asked by a New Guinea tribesman "How did your culture and peoples come to dominate us?", and the book opens with the defeat of several thousand Mayan warriors and their God-King, by a few hundred Spanish Conquistadors, armed with guns. Diamond rightly rejects the 19th Century explanation that white Europeans are innately superior, citing examples of the often greater inventiveness, adaptability and intelligence of "aboriginal" peoples. Dismissed too are notions of superior culture (e.g. Niall Fergason's 6 "killer apps" in his book "Civilisation"). Diamond instead looks to geography, and natural history for explanations. We conquered other continents, because we carried more lethal diseases (germs), and had better technology (guns & steel). This in turn was because the continent of Eurasia has many more animals and plants that could be domesticated, carried more diseases (to which we developed immunity) and that both of these, along with cultural advances, spread more easily East-West along similar temperate zones, leading to our earlier abandonment of hunter-gatherer lifestyles, in favour of farming, specialisation and technological advancement. Though the book paints a broad brush history, it delves very specifically into details of the development and clashes among numerous world cultures, and the evidence left to us today in language, technology, lifestyle, diseases and diet. Sometimes, the level of detail he goes into becomes almost overwhelming. The narration is very clear and concise, but the intonation is sometimes flat, and I found myself drifting off at times. It would have been great if the author had narrated it himself. In summary, this is a major and important work, but a long and sometimes difficult book. It is hard, but well worth the effort, if you, like me, seek to understand how and why we got here.

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14 people found this helpful

great book

this is great books based on facts helps to understand great questions like why Africans did not come to Europe in ships.
Great factors in evolution of humans explaining how we got here

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Very informative (possibly too much)

it was a little difficult to keep all names and historical figures in my head while listening to this book. the overall information does however contain great insight into the development of the modern world

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good book

please let people hear this book read by a person that is awake. it is actually difficult to listen to so much detail and keep alert. the right lecturer would help. the author has a strong point but does little to falsify alternative theories that he belittles. also the role of China boils down to political centralism as a cause and the analysis of this important issue, from the outset, is left without much analysis.

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Very interesting

Excellent content but personally I found it too academic with too much detail so it was difficult to take in and concentrate,

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Very informative but dull.

possibly it was the title that gave me false expectations. I found the book informative but between the tone of the reader, the straightforward laying out of facts or the lack of guns, germs and steel it was a slog.

might be better titled livestock, grain and boats.

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Really interesting take on World history

Jared Diamond approaches World History in a refreshing and entirely original way in this work. Rather than looking simply at what happened or even why it happened, he goes right back to first principles to examine why the circumstances arose that led to peoples of one part of the World essentially dominating the others. I think the macro view is a little simplistic but it is undeniably compelling and a strong counter-argument to more reductionist arguments of racial superiority or cultural differences.

I listen to a lot of history books on Audible and few, if any, have brought to light as many new realisations about the World. Not so much telling me things I didn't already know but highlighting the importance of facts that I was already aware of.

It has to be said that it is not a perfect work and Jared Diamond's ego does get in the way somewhat. He simply can't resist interposing his personal experience and special insights into the narrative rather than simply let the story stand on it's own. A certain number of these personal anecdotes would be fine but it feels at times like he is desperate for the reader/listener to acknowledge just how special and clever his insights are and how uniquely positioned he is to draw them.

Overall a really interesting and engaging listen but I can see how the writer's style might really grate with some.

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12 people found this helpful

Insightful book

I found the book very insightful and informative. Jared Diamond asks and offers proposed answers to many questions that ran through my mind regarding discrepancies development processes in early human societies.

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More accurate than the bible

A brilliant foolproof guide to the history of man. Papua new Guinea probably gets a few too many mentions is the only fault.

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Essential book.

Many good points on the evolution of human societies. Quite repetitive at certain points, though still worth 5 stars overall

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