Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies PDF Author: Jared Diamond
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393069222
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
"Fascinating.... Lays a foundation for understanding human history."—Bill Gates In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth club of California's Gold Medal.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies PDF Author: Jared Diamond
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393069222
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 532

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Fascinating.... Lays a foundation for understanding human history."—Bill Gates In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth club of California's Gold Medal.

Guns, Germs and Steel

Guns, Germs and Steel PDF Author: Jared M. Diamond
Publisher: Arrow
ISBN: 9781784873639
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Why has human history unfolded so differently across the globe? In this Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Jared Diamond puts the case that geography and biogeography, not race, moulded the contrasting fates of Europeans, Asians, Native Americans, sub-Saharan Africans, and aboriginal Australians. An ambitious synthesis of history, biology, ecology and linguistics, Guns, Germs and Steel remains a ground-breaking and humane work of popular science.

An Analysis of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs & Steel

An Analysis of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs & Steel PDF Author: Riley Quinn
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1351350501
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
In his 1997 work Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond marshals evidence from five continents and across 13,000 years of human history in an attempt to answer the question of why that history unfolded so differently in various parts of the globe. His results offer new explanations for why the unequal divisions of power and wealth so familiar to us today came into existence – and have persisted. Balancing materials drawn from a vast range of sources, addressing core problems that have fascinated historians, anthropologists, biologists and geographers alike – and blending his analysis to create a compelling narrative that became an international best-seller and reached a broad general market – required a mastery of the critical thinking skill of reasoning that few other scholars can rival. Diamond’s reasoning skills allow him to persuade his readers of the value of his interdisciplinary approach and produce well-structured arguments that keep them turning pages even as he refocuses his analysis from one disparate example to another. Diamond adds to that a spectacular ability to grasp the meaning of the available evidence produced by scholars in those widely different disciplines – making Guns, Germs and Steel equally valuable as an exercise in high-level interpretation.

Europe and the People Without History

Europe and the People Without History PDF Author: Eric R. Wolf
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520268180
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
'The intention of this work is to show that European expansion not only transformed the historical trajectory of non-European societies but also reconstituted the historical accounts of these societies before European intervention. It asserts that anthropology must pay more attention to history.' (AMAZON)

Upheaval

Upheaval PDF Author: Jared Diamond
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316409154
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 510

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Book Description
A "riveting and illuminating" Bill Gates Summer Reading pick about how and why some nations recover from trauma and others don't (Yuval Noah Harari), by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the landmark bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel. In his international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in his third book in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crises while adopting selective changes -- a coping mechanism more commonly associated with individuals recovering from personal crises. Diamond compares how six countries have survived recent upheavals -- ranging from the forced opening of Japan by U.S. Commodore Perry's fleet, to the Soviet Union's attack on Finland, to a murderous coup or countercoup in Chile and Indonesia, to the transformations of Germany and Austria after World War Two. Because Diamond has lived and spoken the language in five of these six countries, he can present gut-wrenching histories experienced firsthand. These nations coped, to varying degrees, through mechanisms such as acknowledgment of responsibility, painfully honest self-appraisal, and learning from models of other nations. Looking to the future, Diamond examines whether the United States, Japan, and the whole world are successfully coping with the grave crises they currently face. Can we learn from lessons of the past? Adding a psychological dimension to the in-depth history, geography, biology, and anthropology that mark all of Diamond's books, Upheaval reveals factors influencing how both whole nations and individual people can respond to big challenges. The result is a book epic in scope, but also his most personal yet.

Kardashian Dynasty

Kardashian Dynasty PDF Author: Ian Halperin
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501128884
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Traces the rise of the Kardashian and Jenner families to reality show and tabloid fame. Discusses the negative publicity that has overshadowed their recent years while scrutinizing charges of exploitation that have targeted Kris Jenner, Rob Kardashian, and Caitlyn Jenner.

Collapse

Collapse PDF Author: Jared Diamond
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141976969
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 802

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Book Description
From the author of Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive is a visionary study of the mysterious downfall of past civilizations. Now in a revised edition with a new afterword, Jared Diamond's Collapse uncovers the secret behind why some societies flourish, while others founder - and what this means for our future. What happened to the people who made the forlorn long-abandoned statues of Easter Island? What happened to the architects of the crumbling Maya pyramids? Will we go the same way, our skyscrapers one day standing derelict and overgrown like the temples at Angkor Wat? Bringing together new evidence from a startling range of sources and piecing together the myriad influences, from climate to culture, that make societies self-destruct, Jared Diamond's Collapse also shows how - unlike our ancestors - we can benefit from our knowledge of the past and learn to be survivors. 'A grand sweep from a master storyteller of the human race' - Daily Mail 'Riveting, superb, terrifying' - Observer 'Gripping ... the book fulfils its huge ambition, and Diamond is the only man who could have written it' - Economis 'This book shines like all Diamond's work' - Sunday Times

The Lifeboat Strategy

The Lifeboat Strategy PDF Author: Mark Nestmann
Publisher: eBookIt.com
ISBN: 1891266403
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 937

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Book Description
On every front, 24 hours a day, you and your wealth face threats of an intensity that would have been unimaginable only a few short years ago. A sinister marriage of law and technology has made the pervasive and continuous surveillance that George Orwell warned of a reality. Identity thieves, greedy lawyers and the government have been quick to exploit this fast-evolving global surveillance network: - Data thieves can hijack your PC with easy-to-use hacking tools that even a 10-year old can master. After stealing your log-on passwords, they can drain your bank accounts. - If someone has a grudge against you, he can learn whether you're "worth suing" with a few clicks of a mouse. Hundreds of Web sites offer asset-tracking services to find your real estate ownership records, bank account balances, and much more. - Secret government data mining programs monitor your personal and financial activities 24 hours a day for "suspicious transactions." One oversight--becoming friends on Facebook with a suspected terrorist, withdrawing too much cash, unknowingly renting property to someone with a criminal background, etc.--and you could find yourself under arrest and your assets frozen. . Fortunately, you CAN fight back. You can secure your PC to make it virtually invulnerable to hackers. You can legally create international "lifeboats" of wealth and privacy that are practically invulnerable to snooping. You can understand what the government regards as suspicious ... and avoid raising your profile unnecessarily. The Lifeboat Strategy (2011) shows you exactly what you need to do to counter today's threats to wealth and privacy. It documents today's unprecedented threats to wealth and privacy and reveals hundreds of completely legal strategies to deal with them: private investments, opportunities, and strategies inside--and outside--the United States. And, it's written in language you can understand and put to work to protect yourself and your family. Special bonus report accompanying The Lifeboat Strategy (2011): How to Find Your Own Safe Haven Offshore. In this report, you you'll learn: - The 11 countries best suited for wealth preservation - Which countries offer the most to prospective immigrants? - How to legally purchase a second passport-and why you might want to. - In the current economic crisis, which "asset havens" will survive--or not? As the U.S. dollar collapses and the world moves into fiscal chaos, planning your own "escape from America" has never been more important. And this free special bonus report shows you, step-by-step, how to proceed.

Natural Experiments of History

Natural Experiments of History PDF Author: Jared Diamond
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674076729
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Some central questions in the natural and social sciences can't be answered by controlled laboratory experiments, often considered to be the hallmark of the scientific method. This impossibility holds for any science concerned with the past. In addition, many manipulative experiments, while possible, would be considered immoral or illegal. One has to devise other methods of observing, describing, and explaining the world. In the historical disciplines, a fruitful approach has been to use natural experiments or the comparative method. This book consists of eight comparative studies drawn from history, archeology, economics, economic history, geography, and political science. The studies cover a spectrum of approaches, ranging from a non-quantitative narrative style in the early chapters to quantitative statistical analyses in the later chapters. The studies range from a simple two-way comparison of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the island of Hispaniola, to comparisons of 81 Pacific islands and 233 areas of India. The societies discussed are contemporary ones, literate societies of recent centuries, and non-literate past societies. Geographically, they include the United States, Mexico, Brazil, western Europe, tropical Africa, India, Siberia, Australia, New Zealand, and other Pacific islands. In an Afterword, the editors discuss how to cope with methodological problems common to these and other natural experiments of history.

The World Until Yesterday

The World Until Yesterday PDF Author: Jared Diamond
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 1846148154
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
From the author of No.1 international bestseller Collapse, a mesmerizing portrait of the human past that offers profound lessons for how we can live today Visionary, prize-winning author Jared Diamond changed the way we think about the rise and fall of human civilizations with his previous international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse. Now he returns with another epic - and groundbreaking - journey into our rapidly receding past. In The World Until Yesterday, Diamond reveals how traditional societies around the world offer an extraordinary window onto how our ancestors lived for the majority of human history - until virtually yesterday, in evolutionary terms - and provide unique, often overlooked insights into human nature. Drawing extensively on his decades working in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, Diamond explores how tribal societies approach essential human problems, from childrearing to conflict resolution to health, and discovers we have much to learn from traditional ways of life. He unearths remarkable findings - from the reason why modern afflictions like diabetes, obesity and Alzheimer's are virtually non-existent in tribal societies to the surprising benefits of multilingualism. Panoramic in scope and thrillingly original, The World Until Yesterday provides an enthralling first-hand picture of the human past that also suggests profound lessons for how to live well today. Jared Diamond is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the seminal million-copy-bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, which was named one of TIME's best non-fiction books of all time, and Collapse, a #1 international bestseller. A professor of geography at UCLA and noted polymath, Diamond's work has been influential in the fields of anthropology, biology, ornithology, ecology and history, among others.