Specify Appertaining To Books Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (Civilizations Rise and Fall #2)
| Title | : | Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (Civilizations Rise and Fall #2) |
| Author | : | Jared Diamond |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 608 pages |
| Published | : | December 27th 2005 by Penguin Books Ltd. (London) (first published December 29th 2004) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. History. Science. Anthropology. Sociology. Environment. Politics |
Jared Diamond
Paperback | Pages: 608 pages Rating: 3.93 | 57387 Users | 3191 Reviews
Commentary Concering Books Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (Civilizations Rise and Fall #2)
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?In his million-copy bestseller 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?
Particularize Books In Pursuance Of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (Civilizations Rise and Fall #2)
| Original Title: | Collapse: How Societies Chose to Fail or Succeed |
| ISBN: | 0143036556 (ISBN13: 9780143036555) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://www.geog.ucla.edu/people/faculty.php?lid=3078&display_one=1&modify=1 |
| Series: | Civilizations Rise and Fall #2 |
| Literary Awards: | Royal Society Science Book Prize Nominee (2006), California Book Award for Nonfiction (Silver) (2005), Prix du livre sur l'environnement (2007) |
Rating Appertaining To Books Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (Civilizations Rise and Fall #2)
Ratings: 3.93 From 57387 Users | 3191 ReviewsComment On Appertaining To Books Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (Civilizations Rise and Fall #2)
The halfway point review:One question I've been wrestling with as I read, as I watch these societies move slightly past sustainability, as I read about societal collapse and the squandering of resources by the wealthy and then the inevitable cannibalism that always seems to show up in the last act, I keep asking myself how the environment became a "political issue." There's no question that environmental resources aren't infinite, yet it seems like the majority of peopleor at least the loudestA book recommended to anyone who enjoyed The Overstory and who wants a non-fictional account of many of the ideas there. Very detailed book by author of Guns, Germs and Steel enjoyable and provocative, although very detailed and easiest to read simply cover-to-cover while trying to absorb the bigger picture.Diamonds big theme is to look at historical environmental induced societal collapse and to identify five main reasons that cause collapse (or its opposite). These are: damage that people
Jared Diamond looks at several societies that have collapsed as a result of misusing their natural resources, plus a couple (Tokugawa period Japan is the star example) that miraculously managed to pull back from the brink. At the end, he also talks about some present-day cases where we still don't know what will happen. The one my thoughts keep returning to is medieval Greenland, which Diamond discusses in a long and detailed chapter. Settled in the 11th century by Vikings originally from
I've just completed a second reading of this exemplary book of science writing. It's no joke to say I am doubly impressed.Jared Diamond shows how careful reasoning can bring understanding while his love of the scientific investigative process pulls the reader into intimate contact with distant places and times that offer lessons for today. While his Guns, Germs and Steel is written in the same close analytical style, Collapse is the book Diamond was born to write.His method investigates both
Extremely repetitive, inadequately researched, highly speculative, and overly assertive. Jared Diamond clearly knows a lot about some things, but he seems to think he knows a lot about everything. And he gets a lot wrong, at least on the things I know something about (Easter Island, for example, where his Collapse hypothesis is generally regarded by people who actually study the island's history and prehistory as wildly off-base and unsupported by evidence). This book was clearly written by
If you care about the world and the survival of the human race, then you must read this book. Period. Buy it now. It will teach you more than you ever thought possible in one book. You will look at the world differently. It will expand your mind.- LiloAuthor of The Light Who ShinesAnd just to be technically correct, this is not a review. It is a recommendation.
The esteemed Jared Diamond, author of one of the most insightful and profound books of the previous decade: Guns Germs and Steel, tried to break the wave of his success on Collapse, a book about the failure of societies due to a laundry-list of (mostly environmental) issues. Its too soon to render a verdict on the bearded Professor (unlike Paul Ehrlich and Rachel Carson) since he wisely chose topics which cannot be gauged within a human lifetime but the book itself was a real steaming pile of
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