 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is the glass-half-empty follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. While Guns, Germs, and Steel explained the geographic and environmental reasons why some human populations have flourished, Collapse uses the same factors to examine why ancient societies, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest and the Viking colonies of Greenland, as well as modern ones such as Rwanda, have fallen apart. Not every collapse has an environmental origin, but an eco-meltdown is often the main catalyst, he argues, particularly when combined with society's response to (or disregard for) the coming disaster. Still, right from the outset of Collapse, the author makes clear that this is not a mere environmentalist's diatribe. He begins by setting the book's main question in the small communities of present-day Montana as they face a decline in living standards and a depletion of natural resources. Once-vital mines now leak toxins into the soil, while prion diseases infect some deer and elk and older hydroelectric dams have become decrepit. On all these issues, and particularly with the hot-button topic of logging and wildfires, Diamond writes with equanimity. Because he's addressing such significant issues within a vast span of time, Diamond can occasionally speak too briefly and assume too much, and at times his shorthand remarks may cause careful readers to raise an eyebrow. But in general, Diamond provides fine and well-reasoned historical examples, making the case that many times, economic and environmental concerns are one and the same. With Collapse, Diamond hopes to jog our collective memory to keep us from falling for false analogies or forgetting prior experiences, and thereby save us from potential devastations to come. While it might seem a stretch to use medieval Greenland and the Maya to convince a skeptic about the seriousness of global warming, it's exactly this type of cross-referencing that makes Collapse so compelling. --Jennifer Buckendorff |
Importance of Conservation and Sustainability Collapse is an info-dense look at why societies collapse. The cover seems to suggest that the environmental abuse is the sole reason for these particular collapses. However, Diamond makes it clear that this is only one cause, interconnected with others. But apparently many have ignored this particular cause which is quite evident in many of Diamond's examples such as Easter Island. His discussion of Haiti gives important background to the chaos there after the earthquake.
Often people take one extreme position or another. Often the tactics of extreme environmentalists push others into ignoring the state of the environment, which often has direct connections to our health. The ideas of conservation and sustainability are common sense, not political ideas. Diamond doesn't suggest the abandonment of industry or Big Oil, etc. In fact, he uses two oil companies as examples: One that destroyed the environment and one that protected it and extracted oil without destroying it.
Occasionally, Diamond's own political fundamentalism bubbles to the surface. He often mentions how the Viking's rigid Christianity was a major factor in their demise. He also seems to suggest that more open-ended, looser value systems (more liberal) are less likely to cause eco-chaos. This is in stark opposition to the thesis of his book: Corrupt, loose or non-existent, socialistic moral systems are where the worst environmental chaos exists.
He points out how some "wealthy" continue to isolate themselves and broaden the gap between them and other people. While some fit this stereotype, some of his discussion sounds like talking points from his left-wing buddies. Do wealthy really oppose tax cuts because they don't want to help others? Do they prefer private schools for uppity reasons? Or is it because public schools are often inferior? Sorry, Mr. Diamond, giving more money to public schools won't solve their problems. Perhaps removing the stranglehold the unions have on the schools that show little care for the students or government bureaucrats pretending they know the best way to teach our kids. Quality of education has gone down as we have thrown more money at it. Private schools don't have the luxury of stealing tax money. They must educate their kids or they will be shut down. Not what you want to see in science This book was a required read for one of my college courses, and it proved to have some interesting ideas. Diamond hasn't thought his own ideas out, and has proved to be one author that is weakening the science field as he picks out only the science that "proves" his hypothesis, not a review of all the ideas that exists. He attempts to play the role of an anthropologist when he is an environmental scientist. He contradicts himself with his previous books, clearly a sign he is trying for sales, not complete information for the audience. I suggest reading Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability, and the Aftermath of Empire, as it shows clearly how Diamond could be wrong. I am not saying Questioning Collapse is completely correct either, but it gives a more rounded idea of the story. A little depressing, but extremely thought-provoking It's a little depressing to read this book. But it's sobering and thought-provoking. It convincingly illustrated how fragile human society can be, and why nothing can be taken for granted - continued survival of human societies, the human race on the planet earth, or other human organizations such as corporations.
High recommended for anyone who is interested in history, environment, or business (Gates once said it's one of the best business books he had read, and I can see why) Just remember to prepare yourself for the chilling but truthful description of all these collapses! Bold and compelling....but uneven Jared Diamond's "Collapse," is a bold and compelling work which I highly recommend reading. At its best, it provides a sweeping view of why a society succeeds or collapses. Diamond provides examples of past civilizations and of more modern societies.
Among the societies dissected are the Norse Vikings of Greenland, the Anasazi of the American Southwest, Easter Island and the Mayan Empire of the Yucatan, older civilizations that rose--and fell.
At some risk of oversimplification, Diamond identifies three main culprits of collapse: the depletion of soil; the scarcity of water; and deforestation with somewhat different permutations in each case. Associated with these factors is an expanding population whose numbers could no longer be sustained. Diamond skillfully weaves the ingredients of societal collapse into a common thread by providing many interesting historical details and less-known facts.
I found Diamond to be on shakier ground in the latter half of the book. There was a need for tighter editing which would have reduced redundant narrative.
Many of his conclusions are spot-on, others are more speculative. His comparative analysis of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the two very different nations that share the Island of Hispaniola would have been stronger if he were willing to delve deep into the character of the two cultures. The recent major earthquake in Haiti has made it clear that Haiti exists as a mostly-failed nation state. Weak or non-existent institutions have made Haiti almost completely reliant on foreign aid. The Dominican Republic, occupying the eastern half of the island is comparatively wealthy, stable and exists with much stronger institutions. The differences between the two are mostly cultural. The effects of poor land use in Haiti have resulted in severe environmental consequences to the western side of Hispaniola.
It may not be politically correct to "out" culture as the main reason for a failed state especially when it exists in current time. It may appear as condemnation of a people when the culture itself is the main element behind societal collapse. It may have been easier for Diamond to provide clear analysis on the cultural reasons for collapse of historic civilizations than for a failing society that exists today.
"Collapse" came out a few years ago. At the time, the situation in Rwanda was compelling front-page news. Diamond does provide analysis of the Rwanda situation. What Haiti and Rwanda have in common is that both countries are severely overpopulated in terms of the resources available to support their populations.
Because of international aid, the shrinking modern world and the ability of people to relocate, a modern failing society does not collapse in the same way that a historic civilization did. As the world continues to shrink, people will "vote with their feet" and legally or illegally, migrate elsewhere. Comparatively high death rates nothwithstanding, overpopulated countries with unsustainably high birth rates like Haiti and Rwanda will continue to "export" their surplus population to other nations.
While Haiti and Rwanda are small in size, China, India, Pakistan and most of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa are large and also overpopulated. The migration of people from already-overpopulated nations may be the central issue of the 21st century.
Political Agenda I found Collapse to be very disappointing; I read this book for a master's course in Business at a very liberal California State School. I have become almost immune to radical liberal points of views, and this book embodies many of them. I'm not going to bore anyone here, but this book studies many societies that have collapsed and disappeared, most of these societies that disappeared are still completely unknown to how our why, but Jared Diamond tries to lead the reader to believe that his theories are very precise. Read through the book and then investigate what leading scholars think, you will find a lot of variance. Also, keep in mind that many of these societies disappeared during the same time, during a cooling period known as the mini ice age, around 1300ce-1800ce. This fact alone dispels many of Diamonds own arguments about how the societies chose to fail, since this global cooling actually was completely out of anyone's control. |  |
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