What is Reddit's opinion of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies?

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I highly recommend Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" if you are interested in this topic. Definitely one of my favorite books.

http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393061310/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me=

Guns, Germs, and Steel too.

Read Guns, Germs, and Steel.

Somebody hasn't read Guns, Germs and Steel.

Hmm..., I've read the interview and something about it rubs me the wrong way. I find it unlikely, even in primitive times, that love was as free or casual as the author suggests. I'm not an expert, but don't humans have high maternal mortality rates that would discourage such behavior among women? That's not to say that I believe monogamy is necessarily the default position for humans, but I have trouble with several things the author purports. (The first link you posted, for example, claims that foraging tribes don't suffer from internal parasites, which I find to be highly unlikely). I am probably just going to have to break down and read this thing >.>

Since you seem to be interesting in this sort of thing, may I recommend:

Yale's open course on global population growth, which starts off with a good discussion of our evolutionary heritage. Guns, Germs, and Steel, which I believe provides evidence for why the humans of today little resemble the primitive tribes of yore, and: The Red Queen, which directly addresses this topic from the standpoint of evolutionary biology.

Don't feel obliged, though! ;-)

Guns, Germs and Steel. http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393061310/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278186522&sr=8-1

Or just watch the DVD.

OP, read this book. It does a good job of explaining why Europeans and East Asians have dominated the rest of the world. Really good read, and it will explain in an relatively unbiased way why a lot of the unequal shit in the world is the way it is.

Also, it is my humble opinion that black people are the funniest race. So, there will always be that, despite the small minority of screw ups that can give a whole race a bad name.

You might enjoy reading Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. He discusses among other things the evolution of languages and dialects and how they spread, specifically in Africa. The book tries to explain the reason certain people's from certain continents prevailed over others. It's pretty awesome read if you're into that sort of thing.

http://ebookee.org/Guns-Germs-and-Steel_318098.html

Or if you feel like paying

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393061310?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

Gun, Germs and Steel. That is what Jared Diamond says, that is why they won.

But then there is also the James Webb thesis: Born Fighting. While Webb is writing about the Scots-Irish in America I think some of his conclusions can be extended to all of Europe. North Europe held one of the last people to have a warrior culture, one of the last places to be civilized. Perhaps they (and we) carry the seeds of that in their genes, making them more willing to fight than most other cultures that have a longer history of civilization.

Guns, Germs, and Steel on Amazon