Upheaval

Turning Points for Nations in Crisis

By: Jared Diamond

Narrated by: Henry Strozier

A brilliant new theory of how and why some nations recover from trauma and others don't, by the author of the landmark best sellers Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse.

In his earlier best sellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in the final audiobook in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crisis through selective change - a coping mechanism more commonly associated with personal trauma.

In a dazzling comparative study, Diamond shows us how seven countries have survived defining upheavals in the recent past - from US Commodore Perry's arrival in Japan to the Soviet invasion of Finland to Pinochet's regime in Chile - through a process of painful self-appraisal and adaptation, and he identifies patterns in the way that these distinct nations recovered from calamity. Looking ahead to the future, he investigates whether the US and the world are squandering their natural advantages on a path toward political conflict and decline. Or can we still learn from the lessons of the past?

Adding a psychological dimension to the awe-inspiring grasp of history, geography, economics, and anthropology that marks all Diamond's work, Upheaval reveals how both nations and individuals can become more resilient. The result is an audiobook that is epic, urgent, and groundbreaking.

©2019 Jared Diamond (P)2019 Recorded Books

Interesting history

I learned a lot of history of all the countries mentioned in the book. That's great. However, the analysis with the framework is a little bit boring, not too exciting. The epilogue is also not too interesting.

Sometimes, the quality of the sound is not smooth and equal.

Heed the warnings and lessons from others!

Like his previous books, Jared Diamond continues to probe the complexities of nations and their people giving us insight into how crisis are dealt with through his narrative lens. This book is a great addition to the others by the author, though I fear not enough readers will actively take the lessons to heart and begin their own transformations to help their nation and planet through the challenges we now face.

Highly recommended.
(Speed up the narration as it's a bit slow for my ADHD mind)

Enriching, fresh perspective!

It is very enriching to connect some moments in the history of some countries from a learning perspective to understand human behavior and our societies and be able to contribute to the common well-being.

Excellent historical analysis on several Countries

a little dry, but an excellent analysis of crisis points in history and personal lives

Prescient analysis of change

interesting case studies of countries activity to adapt and change. Accurately depicted USA reactions to events of 2020 before they happened

Grows on you...get through 1st few sections

This was a good audiobook. It started very slow and I put it down several times and almost stopped completely, but then it got very interesting. The narration, not the story was frustrating at first but if you adjust the speed to about 1.2 it makes it much more palatable.

not sure I buy the primice

The history was interesting. Not sure the physiological stuff made sense . Narrator was good

Well researched

Informative We learned a lot. Jared Diamond is a highly educated and interesting author
Well documented and well presented

Terrible narration, buying it in paper instead

I have never had trouble reading Jared Diamond 's books. This one, has put me to sleep several times already. The narrator is incredibly boring and monotone. Terrible,that Diamond's excellent material gets distorted like this.

Great on History, poor on science

Diamond has an interesting and thoughtful way of looking at societal evolution that is very worthy of consideration. He missed a few details like the expulsion of all Dutch-Indonesians after WWII. Some of my extended family were actually kept in the Japanese Concentration camps by the Americans and not released until after Indonesia had elected a government. Then they were released and expelled. Racial purity you know.
The real problem is that Mr. Diamond does not know science very well and parrots the Green movement ideas. Example: he talks about the Floro hydrocarbons causing the ozone hole - something debunked by science. Most of the civilization of the world lives in the northern hemisphere, and an even larger amount of the wealthy who able to afford air conditioning and refrigeration. Yet the northern Ozone hole remained small during all the excitement and the southern hole was very large. The air masses do not mix well between north and south, so if Florine was a problem, we would expect it to attach the northerner Ozone hole, which it didn't.
The second glaring error was his statement that we have a shortage of rare earths because they all come from China. No, they don't. China has about 20% of the earth's rare earths. But through regulation and influence buying the USA and Europe don't refine the rare earths they mine. Rare earth is commonly found with Thorium which is slightly radioactive just like raw uranium is. We can mine and process Uranium, but we are not allowed to process rare earths, only China does. We ship our rare earths to China for processing. One company in the US is applying for permits but spreading a little campaign money around by China will slow or stop that process. BTW legally we must process our own RE because our laws forbid us from being dependent on a foreign power for critical supplies. Exempted from that law is England and Candida and probably Australia who are trusted allies.
He is very right that we have to get better at maintaining natural resources. But on the energy problem he doesn’t follow his own learning. He wants first world nations to step back from being first world so that there will be resources enough for the third world. If he would follow the history of energy he would realize that it will be solved. He wrongly compares the US with Europe gasoline usage where density has made public transport practical. Again, he doesn’t realize that liquid fuel will be manufactured from water and hydrocarbons in the future when energy is abundant. It is that lack of science knowledge again.
As for his parroting of the usual Greenhouse gas theory of dangerous rising sea levels, well every prediction for the last 75 years has failed to materialize. Yes, the Eastern coastline is sinking and the western coastline rising. It is called subduction. So, something is wrong with that "science." It would be better for Diamond to stick with what he knows rather than lower his great reputation with social change by wandering into things he doesn't.