More praise for
Guns, Germs, and Steel
"No scientist brings more experience from the laboratory and field, none
thinks more deeply about social issues or addresses them with greater clar-
ity, than Jared Diamond as illustrated by Guns, Germs, and Steel. In this
remarkably readable book he shows how history and biology can enrich
one another to produce a deeper understanding of the human condition."
—Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Professor, Harvard University
"Serious, groundbreaking biological studies of human history only seem
to come along once every generation or so. . .. Now Jared Diamond
must be added to their select number. . . . Diamond meshes technological
mastery with historical sweep, anecdotal delight with broad conceptual
vision, and command of sources with creative leaps. No finer work of its
kind has been published this year, or for many past."
—Martin Sieff, Washington Times
"[Diamond's] masterful synthesis is a refreshingly unconventional history
informed by anthropology, behavioral ecology, linguistics, epidemiology,
archeology, and technological development."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"[Jared Diamond] is broadly erudite, writes in a style that pleasantly
expresses scientific concepts in vernacular American English, and deals
almost exclusively in questions that should interest everyone concerned
about how humanity has developed. . . . [He] has done us all a great
favor by supplying a rock-solid alternative to the racist answer. .. . A
wonderfully interesting book." —Alfred W. Crosby, Los Angeles Times
"Fascinating and extremely important.... [A] synopsis doesn't do credit
to the immense subtlety of this book."
—David Brown, Washington Post Book World
"Deserves the attention of anyone concerned with the history of mankind
at its most fundamental level. It is an epochal work. Diamond has written
a summary of human history that can be accounted, for the time being,
as Darwinian in its authority." —Thomas M. Disch, New Leader
"A wonderfully engrossing book. . . . Jared Diamond takes us on an
exhilarating world tour of history that makes us rethink all our ideas
about ourselves and other peoples and our places in the overall scheme
of things." —Christopher Ehret, Professor of African History, UCLA
"Jared Diamond masterfully draws together recent discoveries in fields of
inquiry as diverse as archaeology and epidemiology, as he illuminates
how and why the human societies of different continents followed widely
divergent pathways of development over the past 13,000 years."
—Bruce D. Smith, Director, Archaeobiology Program,
Smithsonian Institution
"The question, 'Why did human societies have such diverse fates?' has
usually received racist answers. Mastering information from many differ-
ent fields, Jared Diamond convincingly demonstrates that head starts and
local conditions can explain much of the course of human history. His
impressive account will appeal to a vast readership."
—Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Professor of Genetics, Stanford University
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