3 ms·
I'd like to add Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. Borrowed from wikipedia: The book attempts to explain why Eurasian and North African civilizations h
by isaacfrond 3y ago
I'd like to add
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.
Borrowed from wikipedia:
The book attempts to explain why Eurasian and North African civilizations have survived and conquered others, while arguing against the idea that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or inherent genetic superiority. Diamond argues that the gaps in power and technology between human societies originate primarily in environmental differences, which are amplified by various positive feedback loops.
- SoftTalker 3y agoThomas Sowell makes similar arguments on why most of Africa has stayed poor, it's mainly due to geography and environment that is not conducive to economic activity.
- vanderZwan 3y agoIt's an engaging book. It's also really, really rejected by historians from just about every possible angle. The AskHistorians subreddit has an entire "frequently asked questions" section dedicated to it: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/historians_views/#wiki_historians.27_views_of_jared_diamond.27s_.22guns.2C_germs.2C_and_steel.22 https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/historians_views... And don't let the reddit part fool you, AskHistorians is arguably one of the most high quality history forums out there, as the mods mercilessly enforce really, really strict rules that demands giving in-depth answers with sources. That page has lots of other in-depth answers on other popular "big history" books too, quite a sobering read honestly.
- alexilliamson 3y agoAskHistorians is one of the finest things the Internet has to offer IMO
- Shorel 3y agoThis book also inspired Harari to write Sapiens.