Guns, Germs, and Steel by Diamond

I already had a good idea about this book since I listened to an abridged version last year, and saw the author speak several years ago. I found his observations so interesting that I wanted to read the whole book. He uses data from a variety of different fields to create a strong case and an interesting read. I plan to read this again sometime, and also check into some of the references he recommends.

Perhaps because I am an academic, I prefer his writing style to that of any other nonfiction authors that I've read recently. He presents the data in a logical manner and draws reasonable conclusions from it. He doesn't bring in a human-interest element or put himself into the story any more than he has to.



ETA: This book has really stuck with me. It made me aware of some assumptions about our planet that I shouldn't have been making... which causes me to question a lot of ideas that were based on those assumptions. However I am having a hard time finding words for these changes in my worldview.

By exploring the development of food production over the world, Diamond gently points out that most places on earth do not have native species that can be used in agriculture. This means that most populations on earth grew only because they somehow managed to bring in plants and animals from elsewhere. Diamond uses this fact to explain why different cultures "developed" at different rates, but somehow this observation has rocked me beyond that. This movement of species happened thousands of years ago in many cases, so of course it doesn't seem strange that there are cows in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia, etc. But now, when I think about our current preoccupation with being natural, organic, locavorous, etc it all seems a bit silly. When potatoes originated in the Andes, isn't it a little bit silly to worry about genetically modified potatoes growing in idaho, for example? They are already modified by our many many generations of growing them outside their original location.

Taking it a step further, the whole idea of a plant having a place where it is "supposed" to grow is silly too. If we want to be one with the earth and only grow mother nature's plants where mother nature planted them, then I suppose we all ought to move back to the fertile crescent. Any other situation is inherently unnatural and disruptive of "the natural balance" - whatever that is.