Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
Subject: What causes civilizations to collapse, and how to prevent it.
Lessons: Collapse is usually caused by a civilization exhausting its natural resources. Examples include Easter Island, Norse Greenland, and modern Rwanda. There’s more, but it’s my father’s book, and not mine.
I didn’t like this book. The whole book focuses on societies that are obviously very different from our own—orders of magnitude smaller, and having no scientific understanding of their world. Then it attempts to carry lessons over.
I remember liking the history in the book, but I think you have a point there. However, remember that we’re not all so lucky as to live in a society that is so different from the ones described, so I think this book has real currency for some people (just probably not the ones who can get a copy to read).
His other big book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, teaches a related lesson about failure: if you aren’t lucky enough to have the necessary resources, no matter how hard you try, your success will be limited.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
Subject: What causes civilizations to collapse, and how to prevent it.
Lessons: Collapse is usually caused by a civilization exhausting its natural resources. Examples include Easter Island, Norse Greenland, and modern Rwanda. There’s more, but it’s my father’s book, and not mine.
I didn’t like this book. The whole book focuses on societies that are obviously very different from our own—orders of magnitude smaller, and having no scientific understanding of their world. Then it attempts to carry lessons over.
I remember liking the history in the book, but I think you have a point there. However, remember that we’re not all so lucky as to live in a society that is so different from the ones described, so I think this book has real currency for some people (just probably not the ones who can get a copy to read).
His other big book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, teaches a related lesson about failure: if you aren’t lucky enough to have the necessary resources, no matter how hard you try, your success will be limited.