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Guns, Germs, And Steel


Moonlapse

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Has anyone read this? I just picked it up from the bookstore after wandering around for a good half hour. Supposedly aims to explain (and not just state obvious factors) why advanced civilization comes from the 'West', excluding Darwinian theories of genetic superiority, taking into account human pre-history.

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Jared Diamond makes several good points. For example he points out the fertile lands and how they could domesticate animals in Europe. Also how the Europeans were able to manipulate certain resources to meet a militaristic society is well pointed out.

 

All in all it is a good book.

 

However this is just racial garbage, the idea that people are born superior.

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Or do you consider it garbage because Egypt is not at the center of the hypothesis?

 

Ah no, it is because it gives superiority to people in Europe. Or do you assume this is correct on your account?

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Well, Western technology has certainly taken natural selection by intelligence out of the picture. lol Just go to WalMart and listen in on some personal conversations.

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BTW, some favorite Bushisms:

 

"The best place for the facts to be done is by somebody who's spending time investigating it."

 

"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"

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Well, I don't buy the fertile land bit. China, Russia, Africa, South and North America, all these areas have their wide expanses of fertile land.

 

Moonlapse can you summarize the book's major points that supposedly explain this dominance? I'm curious.

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I just started reading it. Unfortunately, my method of reading books is chaotic, so it may be a while before I really develop any opinion on it. I usually read and meditate on short sections of 4 or 5 different books, sometimes dropping books out of the loop for a few months.

 

I can say that even though his treatment of Ice Age history is very summarized, it's concise and covers most viewpoints while presenting his personal opinion as such.

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