Collapse By Jared Diamond Book Review

Human history is full of tantalizing puzzles. Some of the most fascinating of these stem from the appearance of ancient ruins in unlikely places like Easter Island, or the dense forests of the Yucatan Peninsula. For the uninitiated, these ruins are the ghosts of civilizations ghosts whose disappearance is a mystery to our minds of the 21st century but as geologists reading the history of the Earth in the rocks, archaeologists can often read the story of past civilizations by studying records of these ruins.

Collapsed, author Jared Diamond brings an inquiring mind and a varied career and reported as a student of humanity to bear on the often alarming questions about the mysterious disappearance of cultures and societies of the past. Using an analytical framework into five parts, the author examines a number of past civilizations and gifts, hoping to learn about why some survived and prospered while others withered and are dead. Among the factors that appear to influence the chances of suffering a company, it points the damage of a civilization of the environment to its environment, the impact of climate change, the rise of hostile neighbors or dislocations caused by the declining business partners, and the choices made by the company deal with past crises that arise through changing circumstances, as the most important.

Although the infinite variety of people and circumstances makes firm conclusions beyond the scope of our limited knowledge, cultures as diverse as the Vikings and Japanese, Anastasi and Australians, Chinese and Polynesians, have all faced similar challenges, many of which are well known in our time. Ecological fragility, excessive use of both fixed and renewable resources, excessive expansion of settlements and the subtle interconnections of commercial networks are all problems facing societies in the 21st century now, as throughout history, cultures advanced, often export exhausted its own resources with those of underdeveloped societies that desperately need money; and the effect of the leaders who come to see their own interests as synonymous with their companies - and thus to make decisions that sacrifice the interests of his people for their own - they are hardly confined to ancient civilizations.

But the author gives us reason for hope as well as concern. Not all societies collapse: some are able to cope and overcome their problems; and others, the rich opulence and aggressive environment, are able to bypass the disaster by sheer luck or good luck. Throughout the book, the author presents the reader with an interesting mix of history and theory, and his readable and accessible prose enlightens and challenges the reader.