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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
Book Description
In his runaway bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond brilliantly examined the circumstances that allowed Western civilizations to dominate much of the world. Now he probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to fall into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates? Using a vast historical and geographical perspective ranging from Easter Island and the Maya to Viking Greenland and modern Montana, Diamond traces a fundamental pattern of environmental catastrophe—one whose warning signs can be seen in our modern world and that we ignore at our peril. Blending the most recent scientific advances into a narrative that is impossible to put down, Collapse exposes the deepest mysteries of the past even as it offers hope for the future.
“DiamondÂ's most influential gift may be his ability to write about geopolitical and environmental systems in ways that donÂ't just educate and provoke, but entertain.” —The Seattle Times
“Extremely persuasive . . . replete with fascinating stories, a treasure trove of historical anecdotes [and] haunting statistics.” —The Boston Globe
“Extraordinary in erudition and originality, compelling in [its] ability to relate the digitized pandemonium of the present to the hushed agrarian sunrises of the far past.” —The New York Times Book Review
Customer Reviews:
Collapse.......2007-10-17
The author did research into the ancient societies to come up with some lessons for our own future. Very interesting reading.
A Life-Changing Book.......2007-10-13
This extraordinary book will change the way you look at life and man's fate. Unlike Al Gore, Diamond deliberately under-argues his case, which makes it all the more compelling. And unlike Gore, he does not open himself to easy and cheap criticism by focusing on just one factor like climactic warming. He clearly believes in global warming from man-made effects. But what he demonstrates is the full range of our environmental quandary.
Putting aside global warming, how do we deal with the inherent limits on absolutely vital commodities -- sunlight, fossil fuels, fresh water,building materials, clean air, clean water, good land, the productive value of agricultural land? Then he shows the pressure of and irreversible momentum of population growth and the ambition of third world peoples to achieve the standard of living of first world peoples. Then he shows how even the first world cannot continue to sustain that standard.
Combined with this are the examples of past civlizations that failed by not solving their environmental problems. Most chilling is how those societies could remain in denial and do nothing until too late.
Diamond does include examples of successful societies that managed their environmental challenges. And he professes to be an optimist. But I find myself increasingly pessimistic about man's fate after reading this book. The Earth is a jealous mistress, and we cannot afford to take her for granted and to ignore the fragility of the environment and resources on which we depend.
The book is also extraordinary for its exploration of political and cultural issues. One of the most interesting chapters is his comparison of the Dominican Republic and Haiti -- two very different societies on two halves of the same island. He argues quite convincingly that the very different fates of the two societies are attributable to political, historical, and cultural developments. Though there are some differences between each half of the island, each is blessed with the same essential environment. Hence this is a great test case for proving or disproving environmental determinism -- and Diamond comes out against determinism.
Similarly compelling is the Rwanda chapter, which demonstrates that while the small differences and petty resentments between races can be the spark for genocidal conflict, race really doesn't explain the conflict. What explains the conflict is political manipulation of race and the great pressure asserted by declining wealth and resource limitations.
Diamond predicts that wars may well become more common in the new century given the competition for resources. This is a depressing observation for those who hoped that the lessons of the Twentieth Century would make wars far less common.
This is a terrific book and a must-read.
Brilliant. Engaging. Informative.........2007-10-01
Amazing book. He manages to hold my interest while providing a wealth of facts.
Mostly on the mark.......2007-09-28
Diamond hits pretty much on the mark all the way across the board. Weakness: for the most part ignores or minimizes the effect of marketing/advertising/propaganda on human consumption patterns. Strengths: one of the few books on this broad subject that actually deals with over-population; indeed, had he concentrated more on this one most important issue, I would have given "Collapse" 5 stars.
I would strongly recommend this book for anyone concerned with the future of the human race.
Collapse review.......2007-09-24
Another excellent book. I realized when I bought this book that I own and have enjoyed all of Jared Diamond's books. His topics and hypostheses are fascinating and compelling.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Weekly Standard, published by News America Incorporated on April 4, 2005. The length of the article is 944 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Before it's too late: civilizations don't have to decline, but what's the secret of success?(books and arts)
Author: Irwin Savodnik
Publication:
The Weekly Standard (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 4, 2005
Publisher: News America Incorporated
Volume: 10
Issue: 27
Page: 36(2)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Parameters, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2006. The length of the article is 921 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.(Book review)
Author: Robert M. Cassidy
Publication:
Parameters (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 36
Issue: 1
Page: 149(2)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.(Book review): An article from: Independent Review
Jane S. Shaw
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
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This digital document is an article from Independent Review, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2006. The length of the article is 1282 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.(Book review)
Author: Jane S. Shaw
Publication:
Independent Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 10
Issue: 4
Page: 615(3)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Geographical Review, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1538 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.(Book review)
Author: Mark Blumler
Publication:
The Geographical Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 96
Issue: 3
Page: 519(4)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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This digital document is an article from Skeptic (Altadena, CA), published by Skeptics Society & Skeptic Magazine on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 3476 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Collapse: the dozen most serious environmental problems and what we can do about them.(Excerpt)(Cover Story)
Author: Jared Diamond
Publication:
Skeptic (Altadena, CA) (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Skeptics Society & Skeptic Magazine
Volume: 11
Issue: 3
Page: 36(6)
Article Type: Cover Story, Excerpt
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An Owl in the House: A Naturalist's Diary
Bernd Heinrich
Manufacturer: Joy St Books
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In a Patch of Fireweed: A Biologist's Life in the Field
ASIN: 0316354562 |
Book Description
NonfictionLarge Print EditionWritten with simplicity, sympathy, and beauty. New York Herald TribuneIn what is considered to be a classic of American nature writing, The Outermost House chronicles a solitary year spent on a Cape Cod beach. Though Henry Beston had planned to spend only two weeks at the house, he became so entranced by the nature surrounding him that he could not leave. Here we find the migrations of birds, the rhythms of wind, sand and sea, and the changing seasons as Bestons words capture the vividness of nature.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Lines in a Wonderful Book.......2007-09-23
Note: I made some Mormon reader angry over my negative reviews of books written by Mormons out to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews.
Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks.
On The Outermost House: Henry Beston's account of his year on Cape Code in the 1920s is a classic. It's worth reading just for the poetic lines. Here is an example:
"For a moment of night we have a glimpse of ourselves and of our world islanded in its stream of stars--pilgrims of mortality, voyaging between horizons across eternal seas of space and time."
Highly recommended!
The Outermost House: A Yeaar of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod.......2007-01-05
I particularly enjoyed this book as it is set in an area that has a large simularity to where I grew up and I particularly liked the lonliness and bleakness that I identified with.
Beston is without a doubt the best!.......2006-10-03
I wouldn't dream of heading for the Cape without this book--Henry Beston captures the Cape more beautifully than any other author. THE OUTERMOST HOUSE is one of those enchanting books which improves with each rereading.
Customers interested in this title may also be interested in ..........2006-08-04
Since Amazon hasn't provide a link between Outermost House, by Beston, and The Winter Beach, by Charlton Ogburn (ISBN 068809418X), I would like to suggest here that, if you like Outermost House, you will almost certainly enjoy The Winter Beach, as well. From the jacket description: "A naturalist and man of rare wisdom shares with you his journeys along the Atlantic shore."
Bird-watching the Soul.......2005-11-13
There's an H.G. Wells story (in Bloom's anthology for children) called "The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes"; the title character is struck by lightning and undergoes a visual hallucination in which he believes he sees a desolate island, or as he puts it, "Dark sea and sunrise! And yet I'm sitting on a sofa in old Boyce's room!...God help me!" I didn't think much of the story at the time I read it, but now, on reading "The Outermost House," I find it a remarkably excellent and relevant critique of American nature writing. Surrounded by friends and family, Davidson's gaze is turned inward-or rather projected far outward-to a pristine setting that becomes a horror to the reader.
I'm surprised I didn't like Beston's book better. The introduction makes comparisons to Whitman, which drives me crazy. There is no triad of selves; in fact, I didn't find the author good company, with his external, concrete eye. The objective details never gain in implicit resonance like those in Hemingway's "Great Two-Hearted River," for example, in which concrete actions assume ritualistic meaning. The book is a quick read, and it's a good thing, because there's only so much I can take of foam, little birds, wind direction, and dunes. (There's something passive about the narrator; I'm trying to remember something Bloom wrote about Robinson Crusoe in this context.) Perhaps it's a matter of temperament; I mean, I'm as introverted as they come, but I was lonely reading this book, and I kept waiting for augmenting meanings; perhaps it appeals to a more concrete, introverted type, a bird-watcher in other words.
The prose is beautiful in places, but it's not exactly Proust on the ocean, either. It's always so curious to me that American writers, to get elemental or visionary, go to nature, while Europeans still get to enjoy culture. I guess we don't have a Bois, like Proust, with which to associate feelings of longing, nor do we have earthy peasants or Duchesses whose very names carry traces of soil. And isn't there something ultimately selfish in the isolated nature-observer? Maybe that's part of the appeal-the freedom from the demands of family and culture-the illusion of primal interconnectedness. In any event, not Whitman! Matthew Arnold, sure! Ironically enough, I felt Arnold's "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar" every other paragraph. Ultimately, this is a thoroughly PAGAN book in which the soul-less thrumming of cold insect life is celebrated, the sun is worshipped, and human sacrifice (in the form of deaths and drownings at sea) is required. Have we progressed no farther in the past millennium or so? Cold comfort.
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I am a Bird (Great Big Board Book)
Random House
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book
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ASIN: 0375810501
Release Date: 2000-10-24 |
Book Description
Big Bird is a . . . bird! He has feathers, lives in a nest, and loves to sing. This great big shaped board book introduces young readers to their finest feathered friend on Sesame Street.
Customer Reviews:
Large board book.......2001-07-19
First of all, check out the dimensions. This is a rather large board book. Each page has a simple picture (Bird Bird and little bird, Big Bird sitting in a nest, Big Bird on a see-saw with a few friends . . . ) and the text is quite simple, only one or two sentences per page. My 2-year old enjoys the book but it is a little unweildy because of it's size. It is, however, not very long, just a few pages. There really isn't a theme like in other books where they cover shapes, or colors, or bedtime. It's just a little narrative by Big Bird - birds have feathers, birds live in nests, I live in a big nest, some birds fly but I don't (he roller-skates). It's not destined to become a classic children's book but it has bright pictures of recognizable Sesame Street characters (including Bert, Ernie, and Zoe, among others) and an uncomplicated text.
Book Description
Sex, privilege, corruption, and revenge--these are elements that we expect to find splashed across today's tabloid headlines. But in 17th century England, a sex scandal in which the 2nd Earl of Castlehaven was executed for crimes so horrible that "a Christian man ought scarce to name them" threatened the very foundations of aristocratic hierarchy. In A House in Gross Disorder, Cynthia Herrup presents a strikingly new interpretation both of the case itself and of the sexual and social anxieties it cast into such bold relief. Castlehaven was convicted of abetting the rape of his wife and of committing sodomy with his servants. More than that, he stood accused of inverting the natural order of his household by reveling in rather than restraining the intemperate passions of those he was expected to rule and protect. Herrup argues that because an orderly house was considered both an example and endorsement of aristocratic governance, the riotousness presided over by Castlehaven was the most damning evidence against him. Castlehaven himself argued that he was the victim of an impatient son, an unhappy wife, and courtiers greedy for his lands. Eschewing simple conclusions about guilt or innocence, Herrup focuses instead on the fascinating legal, social and political dynamics of the case and its subsequent retellings. In prose as riveting as the moral and legal dramas it depicts, A House in Gross Disorder reconsiders a scandal that still speaks to contemporary anxieties about sex, good governance, and the role of law in regulating both.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2005-11-22
A nice and satisfying read. Herrup combined a truly impressive amount of primary sources, scattered over 10 different archives and libraries. Instead of drowning in the source material and the vast body of secondary literature, she offers a nice, crisp and concise 150+ page analysis.
All the raunchy details of the Castlehaven case are there, but the supposed escapades of the Second Earl of Castlehaven are not the prime focus of this book. Through the relatively restricted prism of a scandalous lawsuit, Herrup achieves in painting a surprisingly broad and kaleidoscopical image of civil society in the mid-17th-century Britain. She skillfully treat themes such as the relations between men and wives, the official and actual perceptions of catholics and Irish, the delicate position of King Charles I and the strife at the royal court between old nobility and the recently ennobled.
Herrup carefully avoids any references to the marquis De Sade. It's easy to see why. Inclusion of De Sade would probably have broadened the scope of the book too much: times, country and circumstances were so much different. But still, it's seducing to compare the two. Sade was given a death sentence in 1772, just as Castlehaven 141 years earlier. Both men did not repent, both their wives were of questionable reputation. And the accusations against Earl Mervin could have directly inspired parts of Sade's Philosophy In The Boudoir.
Great story, well-told.......2001-01-31
I loved this book. The story is unbelievable, and Cynthia Herrup does a great job of explaining all its ins-and-outs (no pun intended). If you want a novel, this ain't it. But if you want a great history book, this is for you. Me? I'm giving it to all my friends . . . and maybe my mom too!
A fascinating story made deadly dull.......2000-11-20
The story of the Earl of Castlehaven is almost too amazing to be believed--not only for the actions of the Earl himself, but also for his trial and what *it* said about English society of the time. In addition, the light that the trial sheds on that time's notions of sexuality, "family," and politics is astounding. But somehow, someway, Cynthia Herrup manages to make it all deadly dull. Reading the book was an exercise in tedium--Herrup's prose is strictly academic and she's given to long paragraphs in which she says precisely nothing.
There are many fascinating books on the subject of sexuality, politics, and family during this period of English history. This isn't one of them.
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The Great House of Birds: Classic Writings About Birds
Manufacturer: Sierra Club Books for Children
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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ASIN: 0871568551 |
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The Great House of the Birds
Manufacturer: Gibbs Smith Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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ASIN: 0879054743 |
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The outermost house;: A year of life on the great beach of Cape Cod,
Henry Beston
Manufacturer: Doubleday, Doran and Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B000860UN8 |
Books:
- CVJ: Nicknames of Maitre D's and Other Excerpts from Life
- Dora Bruder
- Empires at War [Three Volumes]: A Chronological Encyclopedia
- Employment, Labor Unions and Wages (Economists of the Twentieth Century)
- Engaging Ideas: The Professor's Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom (Jossey Bass Higher and Adult Education Series)
- Extraordinary Knowing: Science, Skepticism, and the Inexplicable Powers of the Human Mind
- Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna (National Geographic)
- Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change
- Fight Back: Tackling Terrorism, Liddy Style
- Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World (Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks)
Books Index
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