Guns, Germ and Steel by Jared Diamond
Thursday, August 20th, 2009 | Book Review
One of the most debated topics in the human history is why and how some human societies formed advanced civilization earlier than other socities and dominated them. Jared Diamond tries to answer this question by utilizing arguments built on geography, natural sources and climate differences in his book ‘Guns, Germ and Steel: The Fates of Human Socities’ .His main argument depends on the fact that the number of crops and animals that can be domesticated in Fertile Crescent is greater than any other place on the earth. Hence, the food production and ability to feed non-farming population lead to early development of government and military. On the other hand, technological and social advancements reached to the other regions of Euroasia quickly due to the fact that the variability of climate on thelong east west axis of Euroasia was small. Final piece of the argument constructed by Diamonds is that Europe had the just the right amount of separation between societies which in return triggered the high innovation rate.
Although the arguments presented by the author are very compelling, it is hard to ignore all other factors that contribute to the formation and rise of a society. I definitely recommend this book in order to learn more about history of civilization and the contribution of geographical elements.