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A book to read immediately after Guns Germs and Steel is Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu. It's also useful to know that Diamond does not have a degree in Ge
by habnds 7y ago
A book to read immediately after Guns Germs and Steel is Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu.
It's also useful to know that Diamond does not have a degree in Geography and many geographers aren't particularly on board with his ideas.
I think of him the same way I do Malcom Gladwell, a good story teller but he does this by cherrypicking anecdotes more than by a robust assessment of reality.
- madhadron 7y agoI've gotten to the point where I just suggest people skip Guns, Germs, and Steel entirely. Diamond is a really excellent writer, but he cherry picks his material to support a thesis and ignores all the prior art that shows that people already tried his thesis a century ago and discarded it. Jump to 'The Power Broker' instead. Now that's an interesting read.
- habnds 7y agoNice, thanks. Do you have a go to piece of work that lays out where Diamond goes wrong? I've only ever heard it in off hand comments from people in human geography. I've read a couple of the LBJ books which are really amazing and plan on getting to power broker eventually.
- qmmmur 7y agohttps://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/historians_views#wiki_historians.27_views_of_jared_diamond.27s_.22guns.2C_germs.2C_and_steel.22 https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/historians_views...
- wnorris 7y agoAgree on this one. Why Nations Fail is a fabulous book. I recommend reading Guns, Germs, and Steel first if you are going to read both. Highly recommend both.
- wwfredrogersdo 7y ago> It's also useful to know that Diamond does not have a degree in Geography He has degrees in history and anthropology and has been a professor of geography for decades.
- alkylketone 7y agoI'm curious what you think of The Narrow Corridor, also by Acemoglu and Robinson. I finished Nations recently, not sure I should jump right to Corridor next?
- habnds 7y agohaven't read it. I generally don't think it's a good strategy to read one author exhaustively though.
- james_s_tayler 7y agoWhy Nations Fail was incredible. One of the best things I've ever read.