Collapse

How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

By: Jared Diamond

Narrated by: Christopher Murney

Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

In his million-copy best seller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond examined how and why Western civilizations developed the technologies and immunities that allowed them to dominate much of the world. Now in this brilliant companion volume, Diamond probes the other side of the equation: what caused some of the great civilizations of the past to collapse into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates?

As in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond weaves an all-encompassing global thesis through a series of fascinating historical-cultural narratives. Moving from the Polynesian cultures on Easter Island to the flourishing American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya and finally to the doomed Viking colony on Greenland, Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe. Environmental damage, climate change, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of these societies, but other societies found solutions and persisted. Similar problems face us today and have already brought disaster to Rwanda and Haiti, even as China and Australia are trying to cope in innovative ways. Despite our own society's apparently inexhaustible wealth and unrivaled political power, ominous warning signs have begun to emerge even in ecologically robust areas like Montana.

Brilliant, illuminating, and immensely absorbing, Collapse is destined to take its place as one of the essential books of our time, raising the urgent question: how can our world best avoid committing ecological suicide?

©2004 Jared Diamond (P)2004 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A thought-provoking book." (Booklist)
"An enthralling, and disturbing, reminder of the indissoluble links that bind humans to nature." (Publishers Weekly)

Fantastic story

This is a must hear. The story of the islanders alone is worth the cost of the book. It really puts things into perspective.

Is there an abriged version?

Very well researched examples of past societies but too much detail and too long winded for me. I kept waiting for him to draw parallels to our current world or the present day USA and come up with examples of "how we are repeating our past, etc.. However, I never made it. I ended up putting it down. Maybe I'm a product of modern day fast food society but I think an editor or an abriged version might have been better for me. Gave it 3 stars because it is a nice history lesson, particularly with some insight to Rwanda.

amazingly comprehensive

He takes examples from throughout history showing us exactly how past societies destroyed themselves. His correlations to today's society are self explanitory and will motivate you to think about many of today's crises in a new light.

As Unbiased as it gets

I found this book compelling, informative, and about as unbiased as you can get--given the subject matter. It is always easy to look back in history and point to errors made. It is more difficult to look at those errors and examine how they were made with or without the apparent knowledge of their consequences. He does a pretty good job of examining that and I enjoyed the ride.

Enjoyable History

This is a great listen, entertaining and very informative. It does kind of descend into preaching about the environment at the end, but it is preaching with point.

Abridging this was book was crime

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This audio book tried to tell Jared Diamond’s story of societies who failed and succeeding in dealing with their environments and why. This audio book presents many of these events convincingly but leaves many interesting issues in the hard copy absent from what would have made the audio even more interesting.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Collapse?

see above

Have you listened to any of Christopher Murney’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

see above

Any additional comments?

none

Critical Precedents Worth Paying Attention To

Good, critical science - every example of failed societies providess a great lesson in humility and the need for conservation and sustainability.

Missing Parts

Do not get this book, it didn't include all of the book and would skip sentences.

I couldn't get through the 3 CD

I tried very hard to listen to this book because I found the subject interesting. But the author just beats the point to death and uses examples that have no sustance or meaning to the reader.

Environmental Damage Will Get Us All in the End

This book has been in my library for years, and since I was on a history kick I decided to tackle it now. The first thing that struck me was the disparity in narrative impact between Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel and this book. Collapse has none of the human interest of the earlier work. He does give several examples of his theory of the reasons for cultural collapse—all of which are some variation of environmental damage. This reads (listens) like a piece of propaganda for the Climate Change believers.
At first I was disappointed that I had mistakenly obtained the abridged version, but after the first hour I began to wish for the end to come even sooner. I can recommend Guns, Germs and Steel as a thought provoking book; important for the cultural literacy of any conversationalist. Reading this book will not make you the life of any party. Hearing the doom and gloom of such cautionary tales from those looking to government to solve all of society’s ills is tedious and not at all entertaining.