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)

Not really about Collapsing Societies

It should have been called "Collapse of some Pacific Islands and the Deforestation of a handful of other Places". That would be a much more descriptive title, but one less likely to sell books. I certainly would not have wasted the money on it if that had been it. Diamond really "phoned it in" on this one, which is sad. He is a real talent, or has been in the past, but this book is not in the class of "Guns, Germs and Steel".

Extreme Leftist Book / Secular Humanism

I was directed to read this book for a sociology course at an engineering university, take the irony there. I was surprised at how one sided Diamond is in his argument, not to mention the fact that he constantly alludes to global warming, which has been dis-proven.

Disappointing

I really wanted to give Jared Diamond a chance. Unfortunately, this massive work is missing one important thing: a thesis. After listening for several hours, it's clear that Diamond is just listing anecdotes of environmental sociology. An alternate title should've been "Collapse: Some Crummy Ways Civilizations Sometimes Die."

too much effort

There are some interesting sections of this book, but it goes on and on in some sections without providing much insight or information. Could have been half the length to cover the topics. If you liked guns, germs and steel you may not like this one at all. A dissappointment.