In this work, Jared Diamond explained how civilizations or societies amongst the world developed faster than others during the same period of time. His main focus was the Europeans; they were the dominant society and were known for their advanced technology.
The book starts off with the author, Jared who gives us a brief discussion about pre-history and life 13,000 years after the last Ice Age. As a biologist he studied the evolution of birds on the tropical island of New Guinean where he met a local politician named Yali. Yali quizzed him and asked him a question that was very difficult to answer. This question was the main focus of Jared’s book, “Why were white people more successful and transported more cargo than us locals?” Keep in mind that the locals in New Guinean were black. (Diamond, Guns, p. 1-15) Cargo could range from steel axes, matches, medicine, and metal tools, to clothing, umbrellas, and soft drinks.
Most people would’ve responded with a racist answer but Jared believed that it had nothing to do with the color of one’s skin. After years of research, He strongly believed that the earth’s natural environment determined the way civilizations and their technologies developed. (Diamond, Guns, p. 71-108) In addition, weather and geography also took its course. Societies that lived in areas with a cooler climate weren’t able to produce food. They’re population was smaller than average and it was difficult for them to hunt and transport animals. He argued that the size of a population determines it food production and the development of their technology. Diamond also explained how the domestication of plants and animals was the most important development in human history. He came to the conclusion that agriculture had...
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...se of the Earth’s photosynthetic capacity, and the impact per person on the environment is increasing. (Diamond, Collapse, p. 300-406)
In conclusion, Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies was one outstanding book. In this work, Jared Diamond answered a question that explained how civilizations amongst the world developed faster than one another during the same time period. In contrast to the preceding book Collapse: How Societies choose to Fail or Survive he came to a conclusion on how societies or what caused societies to collapse. These books are similar in a way because the earth’s natural environment is the main focus or the answer to the scientist theory. We as human beings must preserve our land and should learn more about our history. If everyone viewed the world at a different perspective, as a society or nation we will succeed!
It is easy to deny the reality that the state of the environment plays a large role in the survival of society. People who argue to protect and preserve it are seen as “hippies” or “tree huggers” and discarded by society. On the other hand, those who support deforestation are seen as “killing us all.” This conflict that is often portrayed on modern media is actually one that span all the way back to the beginning of civilization. Jared Diamond, recipient of the Lewis Thomas Prize and physiology professor at UCLA School of Medicine, his essay “Why do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions” published by Edge on April 26, 2003, argues exactly how societies can doom themselves. Diamond creates his own roadmap as to how and why problems occur. He shows the various ways of how a problem may arise and be
The main character is a boy named Ledge. In the book when someone turns 13 they will receive a special power called a Savvy. When Ledge received his Savvy, he was hoping he could impress his father by gaining the power to run really fast. Later he found out he gained the power to build and destroy objects. He was really disappointed and only thought of his father. Later he learned that running isn’t what he wanted to do, and learned that he can use his Savvy for good. He found he is a great sculptor and he can create great works of art. Ledge didn’t discover he could build at first. He thought he could only break things. He discovered he could fix things when Ledge and his cousin took his cousin’s car
The reason Jared Diamond wrote this book was to answer the question of his politician friend Yali that why did some societies like Eurasia was able to develop Guns, Germs, and
A long, long time ago, God decided to punish the wicked people, but before he did that, he instructed Noah to build an ark and fill it with two of every animal he can find along with his family. Animals and humans. The book I would like to use throughout this essay is “ Crossing ,” by Gary Paulsen. This book took place in Juarez, Mexico, where a bridge could mean so much. Each character in this book was being compared to an animal, to make us more understand about each of them. Each of them are also different. From the shape of their eyes, the way they react to something, and those are what made each of them different and special. Paulson compares animals and humans by their simliar characteristics and their behaviors.
a. Miles Roby: Dynamic, main character in the story and operator of the Empire Grill. While Miles spends the duration of the book trying to flee Empire Falls- his dream is nearly achieved as a teenager when he attends a small Catholic college in New York. But his dreams are cut short when his mother becomes ill and he needs to return to the town to work to provide for his mother's medical expenses. Everything seems to be holding Miles in Empire Falls until Mrs. Whiting (a very influential and controlling figure in Mile’s life) dies in a struggle for control.
In the book “Collapse” written and theorized by Jared Diamond, historical societies known for their peril due to environmental and human catastrophes. Jared Diamond analyzes the root causes of failed societies and uses his knowledge to depict today’s warning signs. The main focus of this book is to present clear and undeniable evidence that human activities corrupted the environment. To prove this Diamon used past societies, modern societies, and social business societies as a foundation. The most specific and beneficial theories that Diamond analyzes would be the decline of biodiversity on Easter Island, the deforestation of the Greenland Norse, the mining mismanagements in Australia and big businesses.
The book Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond, starts off with Yali’s question about why some places are more developed and have more resources compared to others. The essence of this book is based on Diamond’s thesis, he claimed: "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples ' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves"(Diamond 25). Diamond tries to explain the cultural development of few societies at different places in the world. One of the question he described most vividly is about “Why did wealth and power become distributed as they now are, rather than in some other way? For instance, why weren 't Native Americans, Africans, and Aboriginal Australians
The prologue of the book clearly lays out Diamond thesis. He explains that past societies have collapsed based on five factors: human induced environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners, and society’s response to environmental problems. He also explains how is wrote this book in a scientific manner using the “comparative method”, comparing natural situations differing with respect to the variable of interest. There is a slight flaw in this though. Showing these correlations between different societies,...
64-66), author Jared Diamond claims that agriculture as opposed to popular belief, didn’t help civilization bloom, but instead proved detrimental to human lives ever since its introduction. He states that the progressives believe agriculture was adopted due to its efficiency and how it complimented our race. He contradicts this view with multiple studies and expert sources. According to his research, modern day humans are much worse off than their hunter gatherer counterparts due to a variety of lifestyle changes ranging from greatly deteriorated nutritional quality to increased sexual discrimination. He gathers the support from various archaeological research conducted on various remains found in Chile, Greece, Turkey, etc. Archaeologists can further point out the date at which this switch (from Gathering to agriculture) took place. He further establishes that Hunter gatherers may have chosen to change ways with the preconceived idea that the capability to feed more people and reducing the burden on mothers (hence allowing them to bear a child every 2 years instead of 4) would in turn drastically improve quality of life. He concludes the article by emphasizing on how it created disparities between the elite and the commoners and by defending his own kind for having discovered mankind’s biggest mistake and the motive behind
Human civilization is constantly in a state of flux. It is always changing, evolving, and adapting to the ways that humans not only interact with one and other, but also with the earth on which we reside. We often call this evolving interaction progress. Progress can be defined as the destruction and re-building of social, political, and religious norms to promote a more prosperous and equitable society. Perhaps more than any other event in human history the European “discovery” of the New World fundamentally altered the social, political, and religious landscape the world over.
Diamond's hypothesis is that geography gave certain groups big initial advantages. Specifically, some places are more conducive to domestication of plants and animals. Most people think that domestication is just a matter of capturing animals and breeding them in captivity. This is a misconception. Domesticated species of plants and animals have undergone major genetic changes through years of selective breeding. Compared to their wild ancestors, the major cereal crops are more nutritious, quicker to germinate, and easier to sow and harvest. Domestic animals are more docile, easier to train, and generally more suited to life in captivity. Diamond's key point is that not every wild species is equally susceptible to domestication and that domesticable species are not evenly distributed across the globe. Wild horses and camels had the "right" stuff, reindeer not so much. As modern attempts to domesticat...
Jared Diamond is the author of the Guns, Germs, and Steel. In the book he is making an attempt to answer a question posed by a man named Yali. Yali is a local politician and asked Jared a very simple question on the surface but truly is a hard one to answer. Yali's question is "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had very little cargo of our own." Jared comes up with a thesis in which he explains in depth later
It is important for people to understand and know what went on in all time periods and how one simple animal cause be the one thing that gets you by each day or how evolving to something greater can either be successful or a disaster depending on where anyone is located. Jared Diamond allowed us to understand how guns, germs and steel helped countries not be so isolated and be open to new technology that helped them prosper to something bigger than what they had. To conclude many nations use the three theories that jared diamond shares so that countries could prosper to something bigger than what they had hence, they also used it to conquer other civilizations so they could gain as much power as they could. To sum up Jared Diamond saw geography more than a way to expand from either east to west but a way to use what they had or what others brought so that they can gain more power while using the theories guns, germs, and steel
The novel Upside Down, by Eduardo Galeano depicts the injustices and unfairness of several branches of the global society. The differences between the colonized and the colonizer as Galeano writes is always growing and so is the gap between rich and poor. The author challenges western and eurocentric minds as to why on average, countries in the northern hemisphere have a higher standard of living than countries in the southern hemisphere. At first as a reader I thought the writer was whining about the unfairness of the world, but it is the social opiates such as the false idea of capitalism and choice that keeps us in check in this so called democracy. The author forces the reader to open their hearts to a concept that today's capitalist, power hungry society has almost forgotten
What should our goals be in life? Bill Strickland makes the point that no matter who you are you can do anything you put your mind too. In his book “Making the impossible possible” he explains his own struggle and how he made it through life to be able to help others. He explains his young childhood. He talks about how he had to live through riots and the racism. He talks about how he wanted to help people make their lives better. He explains his struggles with trying to maintain these buildings and how he made great connections. He tells about his love for pottery and his want to help others. His book was truly an inspiration and turned out to be more than I took his book for in the first few pages. His book made me think about my life and how I can relate to him.