To make matters worse, these lists often seem entirely unconnected to the central argument of the book - for example a huge section on the history of plant domestication (of what seems like every conceivable plant in every continent) is provided without it being clear, until the very end of the chapter, how this links to the argument about the environment with the most favourable conditions leading to the domestication of most plants. The book therefore reads like a lists of lists in many places - lists of continents, languages, societies, plants, diseases, animals, and other things, all presented and read out without a shred of personality to be found either in the text itself or in the narrator's performance, which is also dull and sounds like a school information video not a popular science narration. The argument Diamond makes is actually quite simple and could be simply proved in about 20,000 words, but for some reason Diamond feels the need to give us chapters and chapters of filler, cataloguing every plant domesticated in every setting, and then every animal found naturally and then domesticated in each setting, and then every disease that arose in each setting, and then every population migration that occurred and at what time, and what feels like details of every language ever to involve and how they are all inter-related - when actually one or two examples of each would have been enough to prove the point. It reads like a university thesis stretched out to 80+ thousand words and feels like it was written for an academic, not a popular audience. The book is dull and dry, written without a shred of charisma. Whether or not you agree with the politics of Diamond's argument - that it was the environmental conditions in which early populations of humans found themselves that dictated whether they would go on to become 'advanced modern societies' or remain hunter gatherers (I think the argument is fairly coherent and compelling but some have a real problem with it) the problem I have with the book is not its argument but its very dull and unengaging articulation of this argument. This is considered a classic and a milestone for some reason, and it's not entirely without merit but overall is a very dull read and a wasted opportunity. It really is compelling listening.Ī scientist makes history dull with lists This book is highly recommended if you want to know why Eurasia came to dominate the world and to understand early civilisations destinies from their geography and biology. I am still digesting what I've heard and I know I shall be back to listen to parts if not all of it again. If you had told me I was going to be left gaping by linguistic analysis, natural experiments or the result of reviews by evolutionary biologists I wouldn't have believed you but I am agog as what I've heard and the implications it has meant for all the histories of different societies. What I wasn't ready for was a gallop through the history of man from our first bands of hunter gatherers wandering out of Africa to detailed explanations of why Eurasia was by its geography destined to be more successful than either the Americas and Africa.

I've recently listened to histories of several societies and I thought this might be interesting in doing some comparisons. The Fates of Human Societies is the subheading of this book and it grabbed me.

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