'Guns, Germs, and Steel' is a highly readable scholarly work by the distinguished author of 'The third chimpanzee.' It is therefore a very important book, one bound to generate (as it already has) Considerable debate and more research. On the one hand, it deftly exposes pseudoscientific and racist arguments about how some people were able to conquer other people; on the other, it offers a cogent account, with plenty of evidence from different fields (linguistics, anthropology, genetics, botany, zoology and, among others), of how the world came to be what it is since the last glaciation (ie, About 12,000 years ago). As Paul Ehrlich said, it's a 'whirlwind tour' of world history, but one worth taking. In this book, Diamond is Primarily interested in Ultimate, not proximate, causes. His main argument is simplicity itself: some people were at the right time and the right place to harness whatever nature gave them - and, as a consequence, were able to end up with several advantages over Those people Eventually They conquered. Evidently, the biogeography of plants and animals was different on every continent and played a crucial role in the development of human history; Eurasia, For Example, had more plants and animals That Could be domesticated Just Because its large size guaranteed large numbers to experiment with, Whereas, say, Australia, due to its relative isolation and aridity, had almost nothing to offer to Those Who settled there , Eurasian people, THEREFORE, were able to abandon nomadic lifestyle Their early and settle in large groups That would allow them to develop the Necessary Guns, Germs, and Steel to conquer other people. Although the main argument of 'Guns, Germs, and Steel' is convincing, I found did towards the end the book Becomes repetitive. The last chapter is particularly disappointing Because, instead of elaborating his initial argument of how to treat history in more scientific terms, Diamond ends up saying things he already Mentioned Throughout the book, and adds nothing to what other people (eg, Ernst Mayr) have said on the subject. That chapter Could have rounded up the book very nicely; instead, it exposes the book to very serious criticism. I also question the many plates with pictures of Representatives of different human 'races' Because They really do not add anything to what the book is talking about (Those plates would havebeen more Appropriate in his previous book, 'The third chimpanzee') , Despite this, HOWEVER, I highly recommend this otherwise excellent book to anyone interested in human history and to Those keen on battling racist views.
