Atheist Ireland Forum

I've come across references to this guy in a number of books.
I found this lecture interesting enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc4bXIg8JDk

Jared Diamond is the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel" and the current New York Times' best selling "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." This lecture examines the factors that caused great civilizations of the past to collapse and what we can learn from their fates.

I've read Guns, Germs and Steel and it is an excellent book. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in the history and development of cultures and civilisations. It explains why certain cultures and regions developed at different paces and what prevented others, like Africa from keeping pace.

It also serves as a hugh rebuttal of any racists who believe that Europeans have some inherent, evolutionary, master race-type advantages over other races. This book should be indispinsible.

Thanks for the links, Johnnnnn. Nice one!

Those who forget their history are bound to repeat it. Jared Diamond is no different. That's why he's lecturing the rest of us....

Just wtf does that mean? If you're going to be critical of Jared Diamond at least try to employ more than one braincell.

Jared Diamond is a superb author - he's a synthesist who draws together work from many disciplines (biology, anthropology, history, psychology...) to make very compelling arguments about why the world is the way it is. I can recommend any of his books:

The Third Chimpanzee - The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal
Guns Germs and Steel - A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years
Collapse - How societies choose to fail or survive

...but avoid the National Geographic documentary Guns Germs and Steel. It's seriously dumbed-down, repetitive and garbles his arguments.

regards
DL