Guns Germs and Steel
At the insistence of a friend here I've started reading Guns, Germs, and Steel by Dan Brown I mean Jared Diamond.
I've actually had the book for a couple of years, but have never been able to get going with it. This time I think I understand why: it reads a bit like a manual for imperialists. Diamond searches for reasons why one group progresses faster and further than others. He discusses processes of domination and conquest spurred by environmental affordances and organizational dynamics. Tim says that the book is more even, that Diamond simply doesn't write from a moral perspective, but maybe that is the problem.
I'm only halfway through the chapter on Polynesians, though. I'll let you know how it goes.
I've actually had the book for a couple of years, but have never been able to get going with it. This time I think I understand why: it reads a bit like a manual for imperialists. Diamond searches for reasons why one group progresses faster and further than others. He discusses processes of domination and conquest spurred by environmental affordances and organizational dynamics. Tim says that the book is more even, that Diamond simply doesn't write from a moral perspective, but maybe that is the problem.
I'm only halfway through the chapter on Polynesians, though. I'll let you know how it goes.
posted by Jason at 7:03 PM
1 Comments:
Really, Brody, did you expect that I would just sit back and you represent my views? It's just that Diamond is trying to look behind more conventional ideas about the reasons for certain historical patterns, particularly those that have emphasized supposed inherent human characteristics, in order to discover factors that are related to larger ecological patterns.
Sheesh.
Post a Comment
<< Home