About the book
American author Jared Diamond asks why Eurasian and North African societies came to conquer so many others, and rejects any answer based on genetic, moral or intellectual superiority. The question starts with Yali, a politician from Papua New Guinea, who asked Diamond why white people had so much more cargo than his own people. Diamond traces the gap mainly to geography and environment: early farming after the last ice age, a wider range of plants and animals that could be domesticated, and an east to west axis across Eurasia that let crops and livestock travel. Farming in turn brought dense populations, organized states and resistance to epidemic disease. It won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction.
Charlie Munger told the 1998 Berkshire Hathaway meeting that he had read it twice, a rare thing for him, and that Diamond's way of thinking would be useful in business. Yuval Noah Harari says it moved him from studying medieval warfare to studying humankind as a whole.
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This book has 7 recommendations
Bogdan Iordache (Co-Founder/How to Web)
A slightly more complicated anthropology book which pleads the idea that the development of human society and domination of Eurasian societies was mostly determined by environmental factors (geographical, biological, etc.). It's an excellent written book and, while I don't necessarily agree with it, I find it to be very explanatory about how the humans have colonised Earth, the development of agriculture and the rise of the first societies.
Ola Olusoga (Co-founder/Populum)
Guns, Germs, and Steel was also a good one. Most philosophy books also fit my "favorite" bucket.
Simon Sinek (Best-selling Author)
I’m a fan of books that challenge our assumptions, and Diamond offers us a new and remarkably simple way of looking at our world. Learning to challenge existing assumptions is core to effective leadership for it trains us to keep an open mind.
Recommended by Bill Liao (General Partner/RebelBio, SOSV.com)
Source: Interview with Bill Liao
Yuval Noah Harari (Historian)
A book of big questions, and big answers. The book turned me from a historian of medieval warfare into a student of humankind.
Charlie Munger (Vice Chairman/Berkshire Hathaway)
I have recently read a new book twice, which I very seldom do. And that book is "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond. And it's a marvelous book. And the way the guy's mind works would be useful in business.
James Clear (Author)
On James Clear’s Best Nonfiction Books - James Clear
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See more books recommended by
Bogdan Iordache, Ola Olusoga, Simon Sinek, Bill Liao, Yuval Noah Harari, Charlie Munger, James Clear
See more books written by
Often recommended alongside
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (3 shared recommenders)
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini (3 shared recommenders)
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (2 shared recommenders)
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (2 shared recommenders)
- The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield (2 shared recommenders)
- The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2 shared recommenders)
Appears in collections
Sources
- Bogdan Iordache: Recommended Books and Learnings
- Interview with Ola Olusoga: How Books Have Guided His Path To Self-Discovery
- What makes a great leader? A recommended reading list
- Interview with Bill Liao
- 5 books Yuval Noah Harari wants you to read
- Morning Session - 1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting
- Best Nonfiction Books - James Clear