In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond explains why some societies are more successful than others. He attributes the success to geography, immunity to germs, production of food, the domestication of animals, and the use of steel. It is not included in any series and was published in 1997. The book also has also been made into a tv show. The genre of Guns, Germs and steel is history.
Jared Diamond's purpose in writing this book was to dispel racist ideas about the reason for the European technological lead over the rest of the world in the age of Exploration and the racial assumptions of primitive peoples. His thesis is "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among the peoples themselves." Diamond …show more content…
Arguing that people from all over the world are equally intelligent, work equally hard, and are equally creative, he suggests instead that geographical and environmental factors play a key role in the disparity of technology and development. His sensitivity to geographical factors, including the existence of specifically domesticable crops and animals in particular regions, is innovative and interesting as is his effort to discredit racism.There are 2 major weaknesses of the book. First, covering such a broad sweep of history, he can overgeneralize and sometimes relies too much on striking incidents. Second, he has a degree of tunnel vision, focusing on geographical determinism and not looking at the effects of cultural and political factors.
Jared Diamond's book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, tries to answer Yali's question about why Europeans have so much more "cargo" (material goods) than the natives of Papua New Guinea. It is a great global account of the rise of civilization that is also a stunning refutation of ideas of human development based on
Jared Diamond's purpose in writing this book was to dispel racist ideas about the reason for the European technological lead over the rest of the world in the age of Exploration and the racial assumptions of primitive peoples. His thesis is "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among the peoples themselves." Diamond …show more content…
Arguing that people from all over the world are equally intelligent, work equally hard, and are equally creative, he suggests instead that geographical and environmental factors play a key role in the disparity of technology and development. His sensitivity to geographical factors, including the existence of specifically domesticable crops and animals in particular regions, is innovative and interesting as is his effort to discredit racism.There are 2 major weaknesses of the book. First, covering such a broad sweep of history, he can overgeneralize and sometimes relies too much on striking incidents. Second, he has a degree of tunnel vision, focusing on geographical determinism and not looking at the effects of cultural and political factors.
Jared Diamond's book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, tries to answer Yali's question about why Europeans have so much more "cargo" (material goods) than the natives of Papua New Guinea. It is a great global account of the rise of civilization that is also a stunning refutation of ideas of human development based on