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Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
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Guns, Germs and Steel
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Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of its six million years of existence, human society had none of these things. While the gulf that divides us from our primitive ancestors may seem unbridgeably wide, we can glimpse much of our former lifestyle in those largely traditional societies still or recently in existence.
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Publisher's summary
Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction, 1998
Guns, Germs and Steel examines the rise of civilization and the issues its development has raised throughout history.
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology. Diamond also dissects racial theories of global history, and the resulting work—Guns, Germs and Steel—is a major contribution to our understanding the evolution of human societies.
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 86
In this landmark work of environmental history, William Cronon offers an original and profound explanation of the effects European colonists' sense of property and their pursuit of capitalism had upon the ecosystems of New England. Reissued here with an updated afterword by the author and a new preface by the distinguished colonialist John Demos, Changes in the Land provides a brilliant interdisciplinary interpretation of how land and people influence one another.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent histgory and ecology
- By Eugene Gallagher on 09-26-20
By: William Cronon
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Tamed
- Ten Species That Changed Our World
- By: Alice Roberts
- Narrated by: Alice Roberts
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
Random House presents the audiobook edition of Tamed, written and read by Alice Roberts. The extraordinary story of the species that became our allies. For hundreds of thousands of years, our ancestors depended on wild plants and animals for survival. They were hunter-gatherers, consummate foraging experts, taking the world as they found it. Then a revolution occurred - our ancestors' interaction with other species changed.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Please leave out the sermons.
- By Keith on 11-15-18
By: Alice Roberts
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1491
- New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
- By: Charles C. Mann
- Narrated by: Darrell Dennis
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,666
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,153
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,139
Traditionally, Americans learned in school that the ancestors of the people who inhabited the Western Hemisphere at the time of Columbus' landing had crossed the Bering Strait 12,000 years ago; existed mainly in small nomadic bands; and lived so lightly on the land that the Americas were, for all practical purposes, still a vast wilderness. But as Charles C. Mann now makes clear, archaeologists and anthropologists have spent the last 30 years proving these and many other long-held assumptions wrong.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Exposes Non-Academic Audience to The Debate Between Ideas of Pre-Colombian America's
- By Christopher on 01-19-17
By: Charles C. Mann
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Unbound
- How Eight Technologies Made Us Human, Transformed Society, and Brought Our World to the Brink
- By: Richard L. Currier
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 241
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 214
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Story4 out of 5 stars 213
Although we usually think of technology as something unique to modern times, our ancestors began to create the first technologies millions of years ago in the form of prehistoric tools and weapons. Over time, eight key technologies gradually freed us from the limitations of our animal origins.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good facts, not much else
- By Joel B. Gordon on 10-30-16
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Dark Emu
- Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?
- By: Bruce Pascoe
- Narrated by: Bruce Pascoe
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
Dark Emu argues for a reconsideration of the 'hunter-gatherer' tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession. Accomplished author Bruce Pascoe provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers that suggests that systems of food production and land management have been understated in modern retellings of Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia's past is required.
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5 out of 5 stars
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One of the best books ever!!!!
- By Matt Powers on 05-07-18
By: Bruce Pascoe
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Ancestral Journeys
- The Peopling of Europe from the First Venturers to the Vikings (Revised and Updated Edition)
- By: Jean Manco
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 72
This paradigm-shifting book paints a spirited portrait of a restless people that challenges our established ways of looking at Europe's past. The story is more complex than at first believed, with new evidence suggesting that the European gene pool was stirred vigorously multiple times. Genetic clues are also enhancing our understanding of European mobility in epochs with written records, including the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, the spread of the Slavs, and the adventures of the Vikings.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Needs pictures.
- By Ray on 11-21-20
By: Jean Manco
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Before the Dawn
- Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
- By: Nicholas Wade
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 925
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 516
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 517
Just in the last three years a flood of new scientific findings, driven by revelations discovered in the human genome, has provided compelling new answers to many long-standing mysteries about our most ancient ancestors, the people who first evolved in Africa and then went on to colonize the whole world. Nicholas Wade weaves this host of news-making findings together for the first time into an intriguing new history of the human story before the dawn of civilization.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing information
- By Albert on 06-15-07
By: Nicholas Wade
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Pandora's Seed
- The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization
- By: Spencer Wells
- Narrated by: Spencer Wells
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 167
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 67
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 68
This new book by Spencer Wells, the internationally known geneticist, anthropologist, author, and director of the Genographic Project, focuses on the seminal event in human history: mankind's decision to become farmers rather than hunter-gatherers.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Short and unfocused, but often quite interesting.
- By Alan on 06-23-10
By: Spencer Wells
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The Future of Life
- By: Edward O. Wilson
- Narrated by: Ed Begley Jr.
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 223
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 93
Today we understand that our world is infinitely richer than was ever previously guessed. Yet it is so ravaged by human activity that half its species could be gone by the end of the century. These two contrasting truths - unexpected magnificence and underestimated peril - have become compellingly clear during the past two decades of research on biological diversity. In his dazzlingly intelligent book, Wilson describes the treasures of the natural world we are about to lose forever and how we can save them.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A scientifically-grounded case for the environment
- By Lucas on 01-24-10
By: Edward O. Wilson
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Bison and People on the North American Great Plains
- A Deep Environmental History
- By: Geoff Cunfer, Bill Waiser
- Narrated by: Chuck Buell
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 21
This audiobook explores the deep past and examines the latest knowledge on bison anatomy and physiology, how bison responded to climate change (especially drought), and early bison hunters and pre-contact trade. It also focuses on the era of European contact, in particular the arrival of the horse, and some of the first known instances of over-hunting. By the 19th century, bison reached a "tipping point" as a result of new tanning practices, an early attempt at protective legislation, and ventures to introducing cattle as a replacement stock.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Buffalo Gone Baby Gone
- By Jim on 03-24-18
By: Geoff Cunfer, and others
-
First Peoples in a New World
- Colonizing Ice Age America
- By: David J. Meltzer
- Narrated by: Christopher Prince
- Length: 11 hrs
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 177
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 151
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 150
More than 12,000 years ago, in one of the greatest triumphs of prehistory, humans colonized North America, a continent that was then truly a new world. Just when and how they did so has been one of the most perplexing and controversial questions in archaeology.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Last Gasp of American Anthropological Orthodoxy
- By Thomas66 on 01-05-17
By: David J. Meltzer
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The Great Warming
- Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations
- By: Brian Fagan
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 103
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 73
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 74
The history of the Great Warming of a half millennium ago suggests that we may yet be underestimating the power of climate change to disrupt our lives todayand our vulnerability to drought, writes Fagan, is the silent elephant in the room.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Good book but unpracticed, disjointed narration.
- By Paul on 09-12-10
By: Brian Fagan
-
The Statues That Walked
- Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island
- By: Terry Hunt, Carl Lipo
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 442
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 380
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 386
The monumental statues of Easter Island, both so magisterial and so forlorn, gazing out in their imposing rows over the island’s barren landscape, have been the source of great mystery ever since the island was first discovered by Europeans on Easter Sunday 1722. How could the ancient people who inhabited this tiny speck of land, the most remote in the vast expanse of the Pacific islands, have built such monumental works?
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3 out of 5 stars
-
The "Mystery of Easter Island" remains raveled
- By Diane on 09-14-12
By: Terry Hunt, and others
-
Lesser Beasts
- A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig
- By: Mark Essig
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 705
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 639
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 634
As historian Mark Essig reveals in Lesser Beasts, swine have such a bad reputation for precisely the same reasons they are so valuable as a source of food: they are intelligent, self-sufficient, and omnivorous. What's more, he argues, we ignore our historic partnership with these astonishing animals at our peril.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Virtuous Carnivors?
- By David on 04-14-16
By: Mark Essig
-
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language
- How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World
- By: David W. Anthony
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 677
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 570
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 564
Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? The Horse, the Wheel, and Language solves a puzzle that has vexed scholars for two centuries and recovers a magnificent and influential civilization from the past.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent
- By Anthony on 08-09-19
By: David W. Anthony
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Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn't know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world's leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant.
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The Only Book I reread imediatley after reading
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A People's History of the United States
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For much of his life, historian Howard Zinn chronicled American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version taught in schools - with its emphasis on great men in high places - to focus on the street, the home, and the workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History of the United States is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of - and in the words of - America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Amateur hour in the production booth
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This is the first volume in a bold new series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history. This narrative history employs the methods of "history from beneath" - literature, epic traditions, private letters, and accounts - to connect kings and leaders with the lives of those they ruled.
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An Historic Achievement
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The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization.
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Collapse
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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?
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an fascinating book, but better on paper
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Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands to rethink their beliefs about life.
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Better than print!
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Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?
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4 out of 5 stars
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Pros and Cons of "Why Nations Fail"
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The Dawn of Everything
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,329
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A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state", political violence, and social inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
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5 out of 5 stars
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exactly what I've been looking for
- By DankTurtle on 11-10-21
By: David Graeber, and others
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21 Lessons for the 21st Century
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 11,607
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Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today's most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing
- By Noah Lugeons on 09-11-18
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A Brief History of Time
- By: Stephen Hawking
- Narrated by: Michael Jackson
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,733
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,030
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,993
This landmark book is for those of us who prefer words to equations; this is the story of the ultimate quest for knowledge, the ongoing search for the secrets at the heart of time and space. Its author, Stephen W. Hawking, is arguably the greatest mind since Einstein. From the vantage point of the wheelchair, where he has spent the last 20 years trapped by Lou Gehrig's disease, Professor Hawking has transformed our view of the universe. A Brief History of Time is Hawking's classic introduction to today's most important scientific ideas.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Easily Digestible Presentation of Complex Topics
- By James on 05-19-04
By: Stephen Hawking
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Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
- By: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37,717
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 33,106
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32,823
What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There's no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson. But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in digestible chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing - not much physics
- By Rob Hahn on 07-15-17
What listeners say about Guns, Germs and Steel
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 08-27-22
the book
very excited very deep little bit of a slow start what you got in the rhythm of the speed to sound up it's pretty good definitely recommend
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Michelle Estrella
- 12-26-22
Excellent book & excellent reading
Really interesting & enjoyable. Would recommend & works well in the audio format. Wish I read it earlier.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Posh is Blue
- 01-12-23
Historical insights
Well narrated book. With the an equally detailed story line. You need to listen to it with a map at hand for reference
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Vincenzo Fiore
- 12-19-22
A classic that mostly stands the test of time
A must read in the field of anthropology to represent geography determinism.
Many of the ideas expressed stand the test of time, 25 years after they have been put on paper. Some concepts today are somewhat dated due to new findings, and there are plenty of books today criticising this approach. Yet the criticisms are there to testify to the importance of the book after so much time.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 09-12-23
Good information but very dry
I loved the information but this reads like a text book so it very dry. If you can get past that this is fantastic, but thats a big if.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Blake Cristobal
- 08-20-22
A must read
An insightful and important book for anyone interested in international politics, anthropology, etc. Despite the many criticisms leveled at it over the years, it is still a stand out book that is worth reading on its own merits
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Timothy Lin
- 11-01-23
Best history of the world book but still boring
This is the best history of the world book I’ve ever “read”, but it still gets really boring and at some point you want it to end just so you can stop hearing them say Austernesian.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- chris g.
- 02-08-24
Love the history
No dislikes in this book Why do you need 15 words. Thats annoying. Oops. Need two more words.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Liz Contreras
- 05-08-24
Great Info
Would have liked the reader to be more enthusiastic about the book. Great read. Voice was to monotone, lost interest several times during the hear.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Michelle
- 08-20-16
Brilliant!
Incredible analysis of human civilization! While it can be repetitive or dry in some areas, this could be improved with access of maps or Wikipedia as an adjunct to the audiobook.
The narration is a little off -- with sometimes jarring transitions in narration and a very annoying regional pronunciation of 'W's -- but is workable.
Strongly recommend for anyone with a curious mind.
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4 people found this helpful