Guns, Germs and Steel

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Critics

• The Best Reviews: Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, And Steel

  "Why did some societies gain political and economic advantage over others?" From a seemingly simple question posed by a local humble New Guinean politician, Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond in his brilliant book, Guns, Germs and Steel endeavours t ... (read full critics)

  thebestreviews published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

• Why Rhino-Mounted Bantu Never Sacked Rome

  The Martiniquan poet and ideologue of négritude, Aimé Césaire, celebrated the sons and daughters of Africa as You are not logged in If you have already registered please login here If you are a subscriber using the site for the first time please regi ... (read full critics)

  lrb published on Mon, 6 Sep 2010

23 Reviews

• 3 people find this helpful

  

  Great pre-bed reader

  Fantastic piece of argumentative writing. A very comprehensive solution to the question of developmental differences among all the continents and their peoples. And very persistent too - Diamond made excellent use of the 'nagging' technique who is more commonly seen used by the female gender.

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  s tsui said on Jan 15, 2006 | Add your feedback

• 3 people find this helpful

  

  What a treat!

  Jared Diamond tackles a tough question: why did people of EuroAsia conquer the rest of the world and not the other way around? (Or: why is it that only the people of EuroAsia possessed the means - guns, germs and steel - to conquer the rest of the world?)

  His answer, encompassing fields from ... (continue)

  Jared Diamond tackles a tough question: why did people of EuroAsia conquer the rest of the world and not the other way around? (Or: why is it that only the people of EuroAsia possessed the means - guns, germs and steel - to conquer the rest of the world?)

  His answer, encompassing fields from anthropology to linguistics, is stunningly simple and convincing, filled with fascinating facts and observations that are quite a treat by themselves. Rarely does a book offer such a broad view of human history, and it will surely challenge your perspective of your place in history.

  The downside is that he repeats himself quite frequently. If you don't have the time, read the last chapter and you will get a good gist of his arguments.

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  Greg Sung said on Sep 6, 2005 | 1 feedback

• 2 people find this helpful

  

  The book even talks about linguistics. Can the scope be any broader?

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  phystory said on Jun 12, 2007 about the Hardcover edition | 3 feedbacks

• 

  This book does not explain why the food-producing China was always defeated by the nomads, rather than the opposite.

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  Siu Leung said on Feb 10, 2012 about the Audio CD edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Great book. It condenses a wealth of knowledge in an easy to follow and manageable way that is perfect to convey to the non-specialist the magnitude of human evolution and explain why the world is the way it is from a socio-historical point of view. Definitely worth a read (and a re-read) for the pe ... (continue)

  Great book. It condenses a wealth of knowledge in an easy to follow and manageable way that is perfect to convey to the non-specialist the magnitude of human evolution and explain why the world is the way it is from a socio-historical point of view. Definitely worth a read (and a re-read) for the perspectives it opens for the reader.

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  Carlo said on Dec 29, 2010 | Add your feedback

• 

  This is an excellent book combing multiple disciplines of linguistic, archaeology, anthropology, and biology to make a sound argument on explaining how human's history was shaped in the past 13,000 years. It promotes Geographic determinism with strong and mutual suppor...ted evidences. It's also an ... (continue)

  This is an excellent book combing multiple disciplines of linguistic, archaeology, anthropology, and biology to make a sound argument on explaining how human's history was shaped in the past 13,000 years. It promotes Geographic determinism with strong and mutual suppor...ted evidences. It's also an eye opener for readers to be aware of how the integration of different academic disciplines work and the fruits they bear.

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  jhwangus said on Oct 15, 2010 | Add your feedback

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Book Details

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• English Books
• Paperback 480 Pages
• Edition: New Ed
• ISBN-10: 0099302780
• ISBN-13: 9780099302780
• Publisher: W.W. Norton
• Pub date: Jan 01, 1998
• Dimensions: 1226 mm x 839 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Hardcover, Audio CD, Audio Cassette, School & Library Binding and Others
• In other languages: other languages 繁體書, 简体书, Libros en Español, 한국 책, Libri Italiani, Danske bøger, Polskie Książki, Suomenkielisiä kirjoja

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• Requiem For Humanity (10)
• Malaysian Bookworms (64)
• Historical Fiction Lovers (195)
• Science and Nature (188)

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