Guns, Germs, and Steel

The Fates of Human Societies

By: Jared Diamond

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize Winner, General Nonfiction, 1998

In this groundbreaking work, evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors actually responsible for history's broadest patterns. It is a story that spans 13,000 years of human history, beginning when Stone Age hunter-gatherers constituted the entire human population. Guns, Germs, and Steel is a world history that really is a history of all the world's peoples, a unified narrative of human life.

©1997 Jared Diamond (P)2001 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"The scope and explanatory power of this book are astounding." (The New Yorker)

"Guns, Germs, and Steel is an artful, informative, and delightful book....There is nothing like a radically new angle of vision for bringing out unsuspected dimensions of a subject." (The New York Review of Books)

Changed the way I understand civilization

Not only is this book enlightening and entertaining, it might just change the way you live. The descriptions of the advancement of civilization take a logical approach to the question "why have certain peoples advanced seemingly faster than others?" and gives very interesting examples on the way to answering this fairly simple question. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the agricultural advancements and domesticable species.

Good, lite on supporting evidence

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would add more supporting evidence. Many assertions are made without referecnes or supporting evidence.

Was Guns, Germs, and Steel worth the listening time?

No

Well paced and to the point

The book is written very clearly, directly addresses counter ideas, is forthright about the things we don’t know or are unsure, and the reader does a remarkable job to give an engaging reading

Badly Abridged

This book is actually quite excellent, his science is quite sound, and his theory is amazing.

But, some of the complaints of other reviewers stem from the extent to which this book was abridged. Not only were critical details sliced out throughout the audiobook, but the ENTIRE LAST 1/4 was just chopped off! Answers about race, trade and other issues are addresed here. I only found out, when I saw the DVD of it by PBS, and saw an entire episode of what I thought was completely new material! I like "Collapse" even more, and was upset to learn it was just as badly chopped up. Five stars for Diamond, 0 stars for the publisher for ripping us all off!

flawed review

The author of that particular review seems to have taken issue with an imagined slight against northern Europeans.

>>He starts the book by stating that he's out to destroy the claim that genetic differences is the cause of the global disparity in civilizational achivement between different peoples and races, a claim he considers low and immoral. Then he proceeds by asserting that the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea are genetically superior to whites. This self-contradiction is not rendered any less stupid by the fact that it's done without reference to any evidence beyond the mere hunch of the author. <<

That is a mischaracterization of a key thesis. Diamond refuted the notion that genetic variation between races lead to a disparity of intelligence producing a decisive competitive advantage to Indo-europeans. Diamond noted that many of the indigenous people he'd encountered may have relied on primitive technologies, however in no way did they appear to be "slow thinking". However, he made no claims that New Guineans or any other race enjoyed "genetically superior intelligence".

He did however note that by virtue of centuries of living with domesticated animals and high population densities, the Indo-europeans and Asians enjoyed a relative resistance to diseases characteristic of those environments. This in turn led to a decisive advantage as these peoples unwittingly unleashed their germs (note the title) on unresistant populations.

>>it might very well be that once the civilizational process is begun, there emerges a feedback effect, which by making the more intelligent in each generation more fit for reproduction, gradually increases the overall cognitive ability of the peoples inhabiting the evolving civilisations. <<

The reviewer is obvioulsy offering a pet idea that lacks substantiation. I think we can forgive Diamond for not including it.

Excellent Study

No boubt that Prof JAred Diamond has done a great study, its highly recommended because he has put 30 years of experience in writing this book. Some time during this books he talks a lot about petricular topic like he gave so much detail about domestic animals, some times this book lacks interest but after a good patience finally it becomes worthwhile to read.

A Classic

Excellent insights around how and why people moved from hunter/gatherers to agrarian societies and what that meant for technology development and social structures. The domestication of animals, the linkage with pathogens and the role these "germs" played in the downfall of major societies from the Mesolithic period to modern history.

Learned alot although narrator style offputting

content is obviously amazing but the narrator's style made it hard for me to immerse myself in. at times I wish their were multiple options......not everyone likes a piece read like a military announcement.

interesting and informative

I enjoyed this presentation from the point of view of the ideas presented and the narration of the information. My only reservation is one that applies to instances of only listening to works of non-fiction. Much of the explanation for the author’s position would benefit from a close read, and presently I do that better through my eyes than I do through my ears.

Critical reading

This book is one of the most important books written on the human story. It should be required reading for every college student in this country.