Guns, Germs, and Steel

The Fates of Human Societies

By: Jared Diamond

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize Winner, General Nonfiction, 1998

In this groundbreaking work, evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors actually responsible for history's broadest patterns. It is a story that spans 13,000 years of human history, beginning when Stone Age hunter-gatherers constituted the entire human population. Guns, Germs, and Steel is a world history that really is a history of all the world's peoples, a unified narrative of human life.

©1997 Jared Diamond (P)2001 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"The scope and explanatory power of this book are astounding." (The New Yorker)

"Guns, Germs, and Steel is an artful, informative, and delightful book....There is nothing like a radically new angle of vision for bringing out unsuspected dimensions of a subject." (The New York Review of Books)

flawed review

The author of that particular review seems to have taken issue with an imagined slight against northern Europeans.

>>He starts the book by stating that he's out to destroy the claim that genetic differences is the cause of the global disparity in civilizational achivement between different peoples and races, a claim he considers low and immoral. Then he proceeds by asserting that the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea are genetically superior to whites. This self-contradiction is not rendered any less stupid by the fact that it's done without reference to any evidence beyond the mere hunch of the author. <<

That is a mischaracterization of a key thesis. Diamond refuted the notion that genetic variation between races lead to a disparity of intelligence producing a decisive competitive advantage to Indo-europeans. Diamond noted that many of the indigenous people he'd encountered may have relied on primitive technologies, however in no way did they appear to be "slow thinking". However, he made no claims that New Guineans or any other race enjoyed "genetically superior intelligence".

He did however note that by virtue of centuries of living with domesticated animals and high population densities, the Indo-europeans and Asians enjoyed a relative resistance to diseases characteristic of those environments. This in turn led to a decisive advantage as these peoples unwittingly unleashed their germs (note the title) on unresistant populations.

>>it might very well be that once the civilizational process is begun, there emerges a feedback effect, which by making the more intelligent in each generation more fit for reproduction, gradually increases the overall cognitive ability of the peoples inhabiting the evolving civilisations. <<

The reviewer is obvioulsy offering a pet idea that lacks substantiation. I think we can forgive Diamond for not including it.

Excellent Study

No boubt that Prof JAred Diamond has done a great study, its highly recommended because he has put 30 years of experience in writing this book. Some time during this books he talks a lot about petricular topic like he gave so much detail about domestic animals, some times this book lacks interest but after a good patience finally it becomes worthwhile to read.

A Classic

Excellent insights around how and why people moved from hunter/gatherers to agrarian societies and what that meant for technology development and social structures. The domestication of animals, the linkage with pathogens and the role these "germs" played in the downfall of major societies from the Mesolithic period to modern history.

Learned alot although narrator style offputting

content is obviously amazing but the narrator's style made it hard for me to immerse myself in. at times I wish their were multiple options......not everyone likes a piece read like a military announcement.

interesting and informative

I enjoyed this presentation from the point of view of the ideas presented and the narration of the information. My only reservation is one that applies to instances of only listening to works of non-fiction. Much of the explanation for the author’s position would benefit from a close read, and presently I do that better through my eyes than I do through my ears.

Critical reading

This book is one of the most important books written on the human story. It should be required reading for every college student in this country.

Good book, but better to read than listen

This book is very good. The subject matter is contested in some circles, but it is very thought provoking. I'd recommend reading the book rather than listening as some passages will have you hitting the reverse button on your player.

Excellent discussion of how civilizations evolve

I enjoyed the content very much and the reader was very good. I also went to the associated web page - in wikipedia - and got some excellent alternative points of view. The discussion about the domestication of mammals and plants was just the right depth to be interesting but not tedious.

Interesting history book

This is good to learn whole picture of mid-modern history.
Narration is also good!

Very informative

Amazing to know so much research has been conducted on the history of mankind. A coworker told me about the book, otherwise I would have never known to consider this topic. Great job!