Review of Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond was one of the most intense, exhausting and interesting books I have ever read. It put all of the worlds history in 500 pages. I have always wondered what it was that made each culture the way they are and this book answered all of my questions.

Why did western civilization progress so much faster?
Why do we look the way we do?
What happened to make one civilization more powerful than another if we all started from the same place?

Questions like that were all answered in this book... essentially the answer is with guns, germs and steel, hence the title of the book.

Some of my favorite insights were about the initial movement of humans from Africa to what we now call Europe. At this point in time humans were already hunters, however the animals in the north had never seen humans before and therefore had not establish the instinct to fear them. So hunting in the north was essentially picking off the animals like sitting ducks and eventually the large game went extinct. Where as humans developed their hunting skills along with the animals fear in Africa, which is why there are still so many large mammals there. The animals going extinct in the north forced the humans to progress from hunters and gatherers to societies where individuals specialized in tasks for the entire society. And this is the stem of the western civilizations accelerated progress.

After traveling to Africa several times, I had always wondered what it was that made their societies progress so much slower. Some of their civilizations don't even have running water, where as Pompeii accomplished that in the 5th century B.C. more than 2000 years ago. It is really crazy to think about.

This book touches on so many subjects and cultures.. it really is a must read for everyone. I know it can get difficult and slow in parts, but it is worth it. Just push through it and get to the good parts. He has incredible insights into cultures that are overlooked in our world, and into the basic reasons of why we are the way we are... physically, mentally, culturally and biologically. If you have ever wondered why to any of those topics.. this book will have your answers.