Scan barcode
paola_mobileread's review against another edition
4.0
Most of the readers of this book will belong to WEIRD (Western Educated Industrialised Rich and Democratic) societies, or at any rate industrialised societies. Jared Diamond focuses instead on the myriad of (generally small or very small) traditional, pre-industrialised societies scattered all over the world, trying to distill useful lessons that we may draw to lead our own lives in a more satisfactory and fulfilling way. From justice to raising of children, religion and dealing with all age, Diamond analyses different solutions which he weaves into his final chapters of recommendations for a better life - this indeed is the chapter I find less compelling, a bit too preachy, as anyhow it is clear throughout the book where his heart lies.
Nevertheless it is a very interesting book, the writing is discoursive and the narrative interspersed with anecdotes that make for easy reading. As this is a pop-science book aimed at a general audience, there are no footnotes at all - the "Further reading" section however does not include references for all of the chapters, which is disappointing. It does contain however some discussion of the problems anthropologists face when studying closed societies with no prior interaction with outsiders, when the interaction itself unavoidably interacts with the phenomenon it is supposed to observe. In short, a book to be read cover to cover.
Nevertheless it is a very interesting book, the writing is discoursive and the narrative interspersed with anecdotes that make for easy reading. As this is a pop-science book aimed at a general audience, there are no footnotes at all - the "Further reading" section however does not include references for all of the chapters, which is disappointing. It does contain however some discussion of the problems anthropologists face when studying closed societies with no prior interaction with outsiders, when the interaction itself unavoidably interacts with the phenomenon it is supposed to observe. In short, a book to be read cover to cover.
elizabethtm's review against another edition
Library book due and I just lost interest
tara_pikachu's review against another edition
3.0
tell me something i don't know, jared diamond. my family back in tibet is still 'traditional'. maybe you could take a trip there this year instead of visiting papua new guinea yet again.
ovenbird_reads's review against another edition
2.0
I ended up skimming a lot of this. The concept was really good but the delivery was too dry to be enjoyable. I read the entire chapter on parenting and care of babies and there wasn't much in there that I hadn't heard before. This is a well researched and fairly extensive look at pre-modern culture but there was just no hook and nothing that made me go "wow".
ameyawarde's review against another edition
5.0
EXCELLENT book. This was my roadtrip audiobook for months, as it is 18.5 hours long, but they made otherwise tedious interstate trips fascinating. I don't think anyone can really understand the world without understanding society.. which you can't really do without understanding how societies have developed. Without being able to quote the text directly I can't really give this one a proper review, but it is definitely five stars from me, and one of these days I'll have to get it in regular book format too and read it again.
kimball_hansen's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. This book is super valuable and very informative. I liked it more than [b:Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies|1842|Guns, Germs, and Steel The Fates of Human Societies|Jared Diamond|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1453215833l/1842._SY75_.jpg|2138852]. People who think that life back in the Olden Days was better, they're wrong. People who think we're much more violent today than the Olden Days, they're wrong, too. European warfare actually reduced wars and killing when you compare to how the tribes killed each otherconstantly.
The way these tribes view birth and infanticide is wild. Some tribes don't allow a set of twins to live. One will be selected to die. They don't see it as killing a life because a baby's life begins when the baby is brought back to the village and given a name. Take the pro-choicers. They just one-upped you.
He at least could have said Moroni correctly. And Guaraní.
Notes:
He says languages are dying at a rate of one every nine days. And that 95% of spoken languages will be gone at the end of the century. Good. There are over 7000 languages. But only 100 of those languages are west of Russia in the European continent. Africa and India have 1,000 languages each. New Guinea (the author's favorite country has over 1,000 languages. There were a dozen languages spoken in Okinawa before 1879 when it was annexed by Japan.
Bilingual people suffer Alzheimer's disease 4 years later than monolingual people.
The different categories of society - band (a few dozen individuals, mostly family), tribe (couple hundred people, or a very, very large band), chiefdom (thousands), state (anything bigger).
State wars are much better for humanity than village or traditional warfare.
Most countries have greater conflict with whom they trade most with (more reasons for disputations). Propinquity fosters trade and marriage, but also war.
In small tribes, younger kids are better equipped at being parents at a young teenage age because they have a lot more experience in raising siblings and other people in the tribe.
He didn't talk much about the Muslims when he discussed religion. He might be afraid of stepping on their toes.
Pacific Islanders are fat because only the fattest survived the boat journey to those islands that they inhabited.
The way these tribes view birth and infanticide is wild. Some tribes don't allow a set of twins to live. One will be selected to die. They don't see it as killing a life because a baby's life begins when the baby is brought back to the village and given a name. Take the pro-choicers. They just one-upped you.
He at least could have said Moroni correctly. And Guaraní.
Notes:
He says languages are dying at a rate of one every nine days. And that 95% of spoken languages will be gone at the end of the century. Good. There are over 7000 languages. But only 100 of those languages are west of Russia in the European continent. Africa and India have 1,000 languages each. New Guinea (the author's favorite country has over 1,000 languages. There were a dozen languages spoken in Okinawa before 1879 when it was annexed by Japan.
Bilingual people suffer Alzheimer's disease 4 years later than monolingual people.
The different categories of society - band (a few dozen individuals, mostly family), tribe (couple hundred people, or a very, very large band), chiefdom (thousands), state (anything bigger).
State wars are much better for humanity than village or traditional warfare.
Most countries have greater conflict with whom they trade most with (more reasons for disputations). Propinquity fosters trade and marriage, but also war.
In small tribes, younger kids are better equipped at being parents at a young teenage age because they have a lot more experience in raising siblings and other people in the tribe.
He didn't talk much about the Muslims when he discussed religion. He might be afraid of stepping on their toes.
Pacific Islanders are fat because only the fattest survived the boat journey to those islands that they inhabited.
sjgrodsky's review against another edition
3.0
Illuminating when the author describes life in traditional societies. The book is less successful when the author tries to explain just how some traditional practices could be adapted to what he calls WEIRD cultures (such as 21st century US). These bits are so general that they are basically useless.
But there's lots of good stuff here. The very high death tolls suffered during traditional warfare was one of the many surprises. So was the reason (the thrifty gene) Diamond gives fir extreme obesity among Polynesians.
Not Diamond's best but still worth reading.
But there's lots of good stuff here. The very high death tolls suffered during traditional warfare was one of the many surprises. So was the reason (the thrifty gene) Diamond gives fir extreme obesity among Polynesians.
Not Diamond's best but still worth reading.
peaches1951's review against another edition
5.0
This accessible study compares primitive cultures and their practices with our own. You gotta love a book with a chapter titled, "The Treatment of Old People: Cherish, Abandon, or Kill?". There is also the thought-provoking chapter, "What Electric Eels Tell Us About the Evolution of Religion". I hope that some of my friends read this so that I have other readers with whom to discuss some of these concepts.