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Nath
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If you say so. I rather enjoyed the parts I read, though. Haven't seen any better books on the subject.
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VetLegion
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GP, GGS has 'chapternotes' of a kind, on the end of the book there are references to books and works about the area that was covered in each chapter. they are pretty extensive (and footnotes would have been imposible)
as for the book... I just acquired it not long ago and read it, now I am selling it 
overall I liked the book very much and I am glad I read it. this may be because I havent read alltogether many history books (4 or 5 max) so I learnt alot about the idea 'geographic determinism' from this work. also I liked interdisciplinary approach very much.
the biggest issues I have is that the book is a bit repetitive and fails to explain some things alltogether, like why didnt llamas spread to mexico from andes via trade, if they could not have spread naturally because of big ecological obstacles. It was a lively trade between those areas, diseases reached andes through it too.
'geographic obstacles' are very poorly described imo too, the ones in americas especially. it took only a few centuries to populate the entire landmass from alaska to patagonia, but the diffussion of ideas from andes to mexico and mexico to USA was halted by now unpassable geographical obstacles? hard to believe.
I appreciate the insights to reasons why some animals can not be domesticated, though I would like more detail about it
authors claims that average new guineans are smarter then average europians are crap though 
altogether a great book for us folks who just dont have the resources to read alot of literature to draw conclusions from. mr. Jared sums it up excelantly, and if his line of thought is even wrong it is great material for thinking, and discussion.
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Nath
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quote:
Do you surf?
I used to surf at Ocean Beach all the time... |
Is this some sort of metaphor or just a sudden change of subject?
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S. Kroeze
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the Hague, the Netherlands, Old Europe
Dec 1999
time: 05:20
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I do not agree with this criticism at all.
In my opinion it is a great book, though indeed rather non-specialist. This shouldn't surprise anyone because the author is not a historian, but a professor of physiology!
And this book is certainly breaking new grounds because it introduce questions historians never ask! They wouldn't dare to do so!
The period J.Diamond discusses is very extensive, about most of this period we do not possess written sources, the traditional source of historians. Yet that does not mean the questions Diamond brings forward are not important, even if some of his answers are incorrect.
I would have loved when this material would have been part of the standard curriculum at the university. It is not, because it is an almost completely untrodden field of knowledge and requires acquaintance with several self-reliant scientific disciplines. In the academic world the hedges are rather high!
I learnt many new insights from this book, I have never heard about during my years at the university! Studying History in practice means studying Europe and the Western world. I did hardly learn anything about China, India, Africa or pre-Columbian America. Hardly ever were questions about the causes of the dominance of the Western world discussed at all. The importance of printing, the Renaissance and Industrialisation were stressed, but it is obvious these developments are only part of the answer.
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23-06-2002 07:03
That was one very questionable theory I must say.
and certainly I don't know much about scientific books etc. Though I do believe there has to be sacrifices for this type of book to appeal to the masses.
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