Guns, Germs and Steel - the Fate of Human Societies (Jared Diamond, 1999)

[Something unusual:  I was reading two books within about a month of each other; both featuring the same cover artwork (second book linked here).]

Diamond's book has gotten a lot of attention so I'm glad I worked through it.  There are lots of very interesting ideas.  But his basic premise seems a little tired - he knocks himself out explaining that different levels of what we call "progress" among different civilizations are not due to intrinsic differences among the peoples.  I'm not sure there's a big audience out there promoting that viewpoint anymore?  Would have been a hot topic decades ago.  Now he just sounds a little boring flogging the "inequality" language.  But whatever.  When he sticks to basic ideas, there is a lot to learn.

Interesting stuff:

1.  Lots of information about the locus of useful plants.  Guess what:  a civilization can make more progress if it is blessed with useful plants.

2.  Same in regard to domesticable animals.  This part is really interesting to me, I had never read much about it.  The list of domesticable animals is pretty short.  Living in proximity to these of course led to disease/immunity implications as Europeans encountered new worlds.(Germs)

3.  He reiterates something I've read elsewhere:  plants and animals travel much better along lines of latitude than they do along lines of longitude.  Seems obvious once you focus on it.  This resulted in diffusion of plants and animals (and, of course, ideas) from China to Portugal.  Much harder for movement North to South America, or north to south in Africa.  Harder than I had realized.

4.  Big game has survived in Africa but has generally been wiped out everywhere else - and pretty shortly after humans showed up in those areas.  The theory:  humans and big game evolved together in Africa.  As humans showed up elsewhere, they found big game with all the savvy of dodo birds (and same outcome).

5.  Hunter-gatherer societies - limited fertility - I hadn't thought about their need to space out children a few years - would not want to be carrying >1.  And how accumulating "stuff" was just a useless idea.

6.  Agriculture, water projects, government, religion, armies, specialization - fascinating. (Guns, Steel)

7.  Like this author, scope is a little too ambitious here - can he really know enough about all the areas and time frames he discusses?

But all in all:  valuable, recommended.

" . . . the official religions and patriotic fervor of many states make their troops willing to fight suicidally.  The latter willingness is one so strongly programmed into us citizens of modern states, by our schools and churches and governments, that we forget what a radical break it marks with previous human history."