The author of this book was extremely long-winded, so I am going to do the opposite with this review and keep it short and simple.

I went into this read excited by the content. I love history and I love little known history even more. This book was a blend of past, present and future regarding how humans are affecting the planet. The basic premise was good and the examples the author chose to write about were perfect. I rank the chapters that discussed Easter Island, various other islands and Greenland’s Viking colony the highest because they were fascinating. The other chapters contained some interesting information too but weren’t as engaging. I kept dozing off while reading them and considered skimming through them more times than I care to admit.

Three stars to a book that needed a few hundred pages of unnecessary extra removed from it.

Diamond explores the reasons for societies going through and coming out of crisis, using examples in Chile, Germany, Indonesia, Japan and Finland. Diamond's ability to bring together multiple disciplines and establish common themes amongst countries which experience and overcome crisis is a reflection of his wide-ranging sociological, political, psychological and economic expertise.

Diamond is also able to dissect the often parochially minded politics and outlooks of countries who find themselves squandering their advantages due to the desire to achieve short-term political gains, or how they can be lured into a false sense of security, whether it be due to political naivete, a sense of exceptionalism or a misplaced sense of optimism, into thinking they are not in a crisis and therefore find themselves falling deeper and deeper into a crisis situation which they are never able to work their way out of.

What is most prescient about Diamond's reflections however, are his observations on the increasingly fragile nature of American politics which, in the years following the publication of the book, has found itself teetering on the path towards dictatorship. Overall 'Collapse' is a compelling and well evidence, if somewhat dry, exploration of modern day politics.

Collapse is even better than Guns, Germs, and Steel. And this time Diamond focuses, not on how environments have shaped people, but how we have transformed our environments. He looks at various places that suffered environmental collapse in the past, like Yucatan or Greenland, then looks at some relative success stories like Japan or the Dominican Republic. He mainly covers places where he has both personal experience and great background knowledge. The resulting tour is marvelously insightful, and close to the finest non-fiction writing out there. But his examples leave out the sites of history's greatest environmental collapses and challenges, across North Africa and the Middle East.

Jared Diamond looks at several societies that have collapsed as a result of misusing their natural resources, plus a couple (Tokugawa period Japan is the star example) that miraculously managed to pull back from the brink. At the end, he also talks about some present-day cases where we still don't know what will happen.

The one my thoughts keep returning to is medieval Greenland, which Diamond discusses in a long and detailed chapter. Settled in the 11th century by Vikings originally from Norway, the colonists brought with them their whole way of life, which was heavily organized around dairy farming. There is an eerie description of a huge barn with room for 80 head of cattle; the ruins can still be seen today. The colony survived for several hundred years, and was then wiped out to the last man by worsening weather and the decline in the European market for narwhale ivory.

But here's the really odd thing. The colonists never ate fish, despite the fact that it formed the staple diet of the indigenous Greenland Eskimos. Diamond says that every single archaeologist who's studied the settlement starts off convinced that there must have been some kind of mistake. How is it possible that these hardy, intelligent people could have failed to adapt their diet in such an obvious way? But the evidence from middens is apparently rock-solid. For whatever reason, they would not make use of this plentiful natural resource, which could easily have saved them; they perished instead.

Incomprehensible, isn't it? Needless to say, our own society's reluctance to invest more than a token amount of money in developing cheap solar power is different. The two cases are in no way comparable.
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Just back from Australia, where I had several illuminating discussions with various people about solar energy. Australia is almost certainly the country where it would work best. Population density is very low, and there is abundant sunlight. The technology already exists to build cheap solar power stations.

So why don't they do it? Apparently, building the power stations in desert areas isn't economically viable unless national resources are diverted to connect them to the national grid. But the powerful coal lobby hates the idea, and has blocked it at every turn. Neither left-wing nor right-wing politicians dare oppose them.

You often see individuals doing this kind of thing: even though a given course of action is evidently going to benefit them (leave their abusive partner, stop binge-drinking), they are unable to summon the willpower to quit. It's interesting and remarkable that whole societies exhibit the same behavior.
____________________________

As previously noted. Tony Abbott is really doing everything he can to consolidate his position as the new Dubya.

সেই সোনার ডিম পাড়া হাঁসের গল্প তো আমরা সবাই জানি। সেই হাঁস প্রতিদিন একটি করে সোনার ডিম পাড়তো, তো তার মালিক একদিন ভাবলো প্রতিদিন একটি একটি অরে ডিম পাওয়ার চেয়ে একবারে সব ডিম পেয়ে গেলে কেমন হয়? সেই চিন্তা থেকে হাঁসের পেট কেটে সব ডিম বের করতে গিয়ে সোনার ডিম পাড়া হাঁসকেই চিরতরে হারালো সে। লোভী মালিকের এই চিরায়ত গল্পটি শুধু ব্যাক্তি মানুষের ক্ষেত্রেই নয়, রাষ্ট্র বা স্টেট এর ক্ষেত্রেও প্রযোজ্য। আমেরিকার অসাধারণ নৈসর্গিক সৌন্দর্যের আধার মন্টানা রাজ্যের ঘটনা অনেকটাই এই লোভী মালিকের সাথে মিলে যায়। মন্টানা এককালে আমেরিকার সবচেয়ে সুন্দর অঙ্গরাজ্য হিসেবে পরিচিত ছিলো, শত শত মাইল ঘন সবুজ প্রকৃতি, স্ফটিক স্বচ্ছ লেকের জল, ট্রাউট ভর্তি স্রোত, বুনো পাহাড়, অন্তহীন অরণ্য, ডেইড়ি ফার্ম, রেঞ্চ, হাসিখুশী বন্ধুবৎসল মানুষজন, দেখে মনেহতো যেন কোন স্বর্গ! অথচ কালের বিবর্তনে সেই মন্টানা আমেরিকার ‘Livable City’ তালিকায় অনেক নিচে! কারন মন্টানাও ঠিক একইভাবে সোনার ডিম পাড়া হাঁসকে মেরে ফেলেছিলো। মন্টানার আয়ের অন্যতম উৎস ছিলো বিভিন্ন ডেইর্রী ফার্ম ও রেঞ্চ, প্রাকৃতিক সম্পদের মধ্যে কপার ছিলো আরেক অন্যতম আয়। আপাতদৃষ্টিতে অনিঃশেষ এই কপার কে দ্রুত মুনাফা অর্জনের লক্ষ্যে মাত্রাতিরিক্ত মাইন করতে গিয়ে হাজার হাজার গ্যালন বিষাক্ত রাসায়নিক ব্যবহার করা হয়েছে যা পরবর্তীতে বর্জ্য হিসেবে লেকের পানিতে মিশে সুস্বাদু ট্রাউট কে মেরে ফেলা সহ লেকের পানির জীববৈচিত্র নষ্ট করছে। সেই একই পানি খেয়ে সাধারন নগরবাসীরা দীর্ঘমেয়াদি নানা অসুখে ভুগছে, ক্যান্সার যার মধ্যে অন্যতম। মাইনিং কোম্পানির অবকাঠামো তৈরিতে গাছপালা কেটে বন উজার করার সাথে সারাক্ষণ কিচির মিচির করতে থাকা পাখিরাও সাধারন মানুষের মত মন্টানা ছেড়ে পালাচ্ছে। আধুনিক উন্নত বিশ্বে পরিবেশ বিপর্যয়ের অন্যতম উদাহরণ হয়ে দাঁড়িয়ে আছে মন্টানা।

মন্টানার উচ্চপদস্থ কর্মকর্তারা কি পারতেন না এই মাইনিং ঠেকাতে? তারা কি পারতেন না এই পরিবেশ বিপর্যয় রোধ করতে? পারতেন হয়তো, কিন্তু দুর্ভাগ্যবশত মন্টানায় ক্ষমতায় থাকা ব্যক্তিরা এই ক্ষতিকে মাইনিং এবং লগিং কোম্পানিগুলির নিয়ে আসা চাকরি বা কর্মসংস্থানের একটি গ্রহণযোগ্য পার্শ্ব প্রতিক্রিয়া হিসাবে গ্রহণ করে নিয়েছিলেন এবং যতক্ষণ না ক্ষতিটি লাভজনক পর্যটন সাইটগুলির খুব কাছাকাছি না যায়, ততক্ষণ এটি সমস্যাযুক্ত হিসাবে দেখতে রাজী ছিলেন না। মন্টানা এই যে মারাত্মক পরিবেশ বিপর্যয়ের মুখোমুখি দাঁড়িয়ে আছে তা থেকে দুটো শিক্ষা পাওয়া যায়, এক- বাইরে থেকে একটি সমাজ বা রাষ্ট্রকে আপাতদৃষ্টিতে ফিটফাট মনে হলেও ভেতরে ভেতরে এর পচন ঘটতে থাকতে পারে। দুই- রাষ্ট্রের ক্ষমতায় থাকা ব্যক্তিগণ কর্তৃক কোন সমস্যা অপরিবর্তনীয়/অসহনীয় না হয়ে যাওয়া পর্যন্ত একে সমস্যা বলে স্বীকার করে নিতে অপারগতা অনেক ক্ষেত্রেই একটি রাষ্ট্রের ধ্বংসের অন্যতম কারণ হতে পারে। তাছাড়াও অতি লোভে পড়ে প্রাকৃতিক সম্পদের মাত্রাতিরিক্ত ব্যবহার পরিবেশ কে ‘Exhaust’ করে দিতে পারে যা ইভেনচুয়ালি একটি দেশকে ধ্বংসের দিকে নিয়ে যেতে পারে।

Jared Diamond তাঁর ‘Collapse’ বইয়ে একটি সমাজ বা রাষ্ট্রের ধ্বংস হয়ে যাওয়ার পেছনে ৫টি মূল কারণ কে চিহ্নিত করেছেন।
এক- স্ব-প্ররোচিত পরিবেশগত ক্ষতি; দুই- জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন; তিন-ব্যবসায়িক অংশীদারদের সাথে সমস্যা; চার- প্রতিবেশী দেশ দ্বারা ক্ষতি (Hostile Neighbour) এবং পাঁচ- যেকোন ধরনের পরিবর্তনের মেনে নিতে অনীহা।
এই পাঁচটি কারণের মধ্যে শুধুমাত্র জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন এককভাবে রোধ করা সম্ভব নয়, বাকী সবই রাষ্ট্রের নিজের হাতে। রাষ্ট্র ক্ষমতায় থাকা ব্যক্তিদের চয়েজ দ্বারাই একটি দেশের ভবিষ্যত নির্ধারিত হয়। প্রতিবেশী দেশের সাথে ভালো সম্পর্ক ও গুরুত্বপুর্ন ব্যবসায়িক অংশীদারকে ধরে রাখতে কূটনৈতিক কৌশল কতটা গুরুত্বপূর্ন ভূমিকা রাখতে পারে তা লেখক বিভিন্ন দেশের ও পুরনো সভ্যতার উদাহরণ দিয়ে দেখিয়েছেন। যেমন Pitcairn Island and Mangarevan Society এর মধ্যকার ব্যবসায়িক সম্পর্কের উদাহরণ। স্ব-প্ররোচিত পরিবেশগত ক্ষতির উদাহরণ হিসেবে ইস্টার আইল্যান্ডের Moai builders, Mayan Civilization এর ব্যাখ্যা আধুনিক বিশ্বের অনেক দেশের পরিস্থিতির সাথেই মিলে যায়। লেখক চায়নার মাত্রাতিরিক্ত ইন্ডাস্ট্রিয়ালিজেশনও স্ব-প্ররোচিত পরিবেশগত বিপর্যয় ডেকে আনছে বলে মনে করছেন। প্রতি বছর চীন তার মোট জিডিপি’র ৮% পলিউশন জনিত রোগের চিকিৎসা ব্যয় হিসেবে খরচ করছে যা টাকার অংকে ৫৪ বিলিয়ন ডলার! সবচেয়ে মজার বিষয় হচ্ছে চীন কর্তৃক পরিবেশ দূষণের প্রতিকূল প্রভাব অন্য দেশের উপরেও পড়ছে।

পরিবর্তন মেনে নিতে না পারা বা পরিবর্তিত পরিবেশের সাথে নিজেকে মানিয়ে নিতে না পারাও যে কোন জাতিকে ধ্বংস করে দিতে পারে তার উৎকৃষ্ট উদাহরণ গ্রীনল্যান্ডের নর্স (Norse) জাতির বিলুপ্তি। স্ক্যান্ডিনেভিয়া থেকে নর্সরা এসে গ্রীনল্যান্ডে বসবাস শুরু করে। গবাদি পশু ছিলো নর্সদের অন্যতম প্রধান খাদ্য, কিন্তু গ্রীনল্যান্ড গবাদি পশু পালনের জন্য একেবারেই অনুকূলে ছিলো না। প্রোটিনের উৎস হিসেবে গ্রীনল্যান্ডে মাছের অপরিসীম ভান্ডার থাকা সত্ত্বেও খাদ্যতালিকায় গবাদি পশুর মাংশ রাখার জেদের কারনেই নর্স জাতি বিলুপ্ত হয়েছিলো বলে মনে করেন লেখক। স্ক্যান্ডিনেভিয়া থেকে গবাদি পশু এনে গ্রীনল্যান্ডে পালন করার জন্য উপযুক্ত পরিবেশ তৈরী করা বা ওখান থেকে গবাদি পশুর মাংস বহন করে নিয়ে আসার মাত্রাতিরিক্ত খরচ নর্সদের জাতিগত রিসোর্স ভান্ডারকে শূণ্য করে দিয়েছিলো। অথচ গ্রীনল্যান্ডের ইন্যুইট দের মত মাছ খাবার অভ্যাস গড়ে তুলতে পারলেই হয়ত এই ধ্বংস ঠেকানো যেত।

Jared Diamond এর এই বই অনেক অনেক তথ্যে ঠাসা একটি গবেষণা পত্রের মত মনে হলেও এবং পড়তে কিছুটা একঘেয়ে লাগলেও চিন্তার খোরাক যোগায়। একটু ভাবলেই বাংলাদেশের সাথে ৫টির প্রতিটি বিষয়কেই মেলানো সম্ভব। প্রতিবেশী দেশ ভারত ও মায়ানমায়ের সাথে বাংলাদেশের সম্পর্ক, স্বল্প আয়ের দেশ থেকে উত্তরণের ফলে তৈরী পোষাকসহ আরো নানা ব্যাবসায়িক স্বার্থে অনেক সুযোগ সুবিধা হারানো ও এ বিষয়ে আমাদের পরবর্তী পদক্ষেপ, রুপপুর পারমানবিক বিদ্যুৎ কেন্দ্রসহ অন্যান্য অবকাঠামো ইত্যাদির পরিবেশগত বিপর্যয়ের বিষয় এবং বিভিন্নভাবে নিজেদের পরিবেশকে দূষিত করা তথা Ecocide করার ফলে ভবিষ্যতে কী কী ধরনের সমস্যার সৃষ্টি হতে পারে, অন্ততপক্ষে এইটুকু ভাবাতে বইটি যথেষ্টই সহায়ক হবে।

Audio book was as dry as a piece of Melba toast after Bar Rush. Impact could have been enhanced with a provocative frame structure. Title feels misleading since ancient cultures didn't know, what they didn't know. Book failed to produce an A-ha Moment. Maybe I'm just jaded about human nature and its approach to environment. Not recommended.

This is a major work. Diamond looks in detail at the factors at play in the demise of civilizations in human history, using a wide range of examples. He offers a framework in which to structure the analysis and looks in great detail at possible (and in many cases certain) reasons why various societies collapsed. He is not a one-note analyst. All problems do not fit the same mold. There is considerable nuance and common sense brought to bear on this examination. Foolishness plays a part, greed, corruption. But just as frequently, the actors behave rationally. Maybe they were unaware or could not possibly be aware of the larger implications of their actions. Maybe the land in which they lived was ill-suited to large numbers of humans. Maybe changes in climate made what seemed a reasonable place a death trap. Clearly an analysis of why societies failed in the past, with particular attention to environmental issues, has direct relevance to our world today. For example, Polynesian islands that were dependant on resources from other islands collapsed when their import supply dried up. That has relevance to oil-dependant first world nations today, for example. Diamond goes out of his way to make a case that business is business and they are not in the business of performing charity or taking responsibility for the common weal. He does point out that some businesses have been instrumental in forcing improvements in producers. He cited Home Depot and BP among others, although I expect he might have second thoughts about the latter's net impact.

I found the book to be extremely eye-opening and informative. It was a long, slow read, but well worth the effort. It makes my short list of must read for anyone seriously interested in current affairs.

As I have read this book the bush fire crisis in Australia was making news worldwide. Jared Diamond devoted an entire chapter to Australia in this 15 year old book and it made stark reading considering. He hardly covered fire that devours but had a lot to say about water, agriculture and mining. Mining is huge in this country to the point that multi national and local miners can campaign very hard, with the mass media heavyweight assistance of US plutocrat Rupert Murdoch, to get what they want. Governments will fall; some people do become silent as the fear of a smashing in the media as to their thoughts on the degradation of resources for cheap return are generally turned into some cheap point scoring propaganda on behalf of vested interests. Can I complain? Can I hell! Me and my generation, boomers, has made a mint from the resource sector via our superannuation with fast and easy returns and now in our dotage have a lot to yell about at those bludging whining youngsters. Good grief! Who are these people to complain about us receiving tax credits back from the PAYE taxpayer for our 1.9 million dollar worth of shares? 6,000 odd bucks a pop for that little investment. I’m alright Jack.


Which is why, depending on one’s point of view, the more interesting chapter in this book is 14 Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions? The premise of this chapter can cover the individual as well. There is rational behaviour behind all decisions no matter how (seemingly) poor. And here’s (seemingly) one for any of you that read my scribble. Diamond discusses the foolishness of cotton growing in Queensland and northern New South Wales that depletes water resources from the likes of the Murray Darling downstream. This is a big deal and nothing to do with one’s political belief. Rural (and with that very conservative) electorates downstream have complaining for years and years about water loss. Google is your friend to read up on this. So with cotton, drought etc. what do we get? Dubbo, a town in central NSW, easing water restrictions for the watering of one’s garden. And what a debate! How’s this for one news item on the subject pork chops?
https://7news.com.au/news/environment...

For a more cerebral read look at this.
ttps://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/scrapping...


Diamond writes that he is hopeful that correct decisions will be made with pressure from the public in general and gives many reasons as to why this has been successful. Again this all depends on ones point of view but after watching the power of the media to support and sway opinion in Australia over the issue of the environment (and tax credits on fully franked shares) I have my doubts.

It was suggested to me that some of the research may have been superseded, and a very quick internet read early on showed there was some thoughts as to the book becoming dated. Be that as it may it has been a good read and worth the effort.

Extraordinary in scope. Makes the news far more interesting even than it already was. However, I withhold star 5 because someone should have run the manuscript by me. Many awkward sentences. Too many sentences that aren't, quite. Or that aren't by a long shot. Penguin? Editors? Anyone? Such a noble and otherwise impressive undertaking deserves better care before reaching the public. But yes. A grand and very fine book indeed.

Citizen Diamond is clearly a middle-of-the-road centrist who thinks that both sides have good points - and thus aggravates me to no end. Which is a shame, as I truly enjoy most of his other books. Over and over again, he defends businesses, their practices, and the people who run them because "they exist to make money" and seems to believe that this excuses their actions because there is no other way that we could ever possibly get anything done without allowing someone to make money by exploiting the people underneath them and destroying everything around them. He also seems to be a champion of regulated capitalism and American democracy as the only way to get anything done because of the "failed experiment" of the Soviet Union.

You know, it's funny, no one says banks are a "failed experiment" when one of them fails. No one says capitalism is a "failed experiment" when some company goes out of business. No one says democracy is a "failed experiment" when a democratic nation is conquered or undergoes a revolution/civil war. Yet time and time again, Communism is absolutely a failed experiment to these people because one nation failed one time. Completely discounting the fact that the backwards, agrarian nobody that was Imperial Russia in 1914 became a Superpower is less than 50 years whilst suffering the devastation of two world wars. The USA only reaped benefits from WW1 and 2, and yet, the USSR gave us a run for our money. How was this "failed?"

But that's neither here not there.

Citizen Diamond believes that if we just were nice and all had long-term views and drank cocoa around fires with business leaders and government officials that everyone would suddenly act appropriately, we'd all learn we'd need to do less with less, and all live quiet, modest, peasant lifestyles. Citizen Diamond pushes the myth of scarcity, champions Malthusian population ideals, and decries the lifestyle of the average American, whilst completely defending the devastation caused by the lifestyles of the top 1%...who, you know, are just trying to make everyone money, so we should really get off their backs, because you know, money.

His research into past societal collapses is just fine, and he points out what they did wrong interestingly. You can learn a lot from the fall of the Norse in Greenland, or "Easter Island," or the Maya, or the "Anasazi." You can also read about failures and successes in the Polynesian sphere. However, when he comes to modern societies, he spends a little bit of time discussing China, and a lot of time discussing Australia. He, of course, says it's because Australia is a First-World Country - unlike China - which, wow, I mean, in the actual Cold War definition of the First-World, Second-World, Third-World terms, he is correct, but you can tell that he means it in the completely Euro-centric viewpoint. He seem to think that we can not sympathize with China as they are "alien foreigners" (my impression), even though he goes on to explain how Australians can only live in very large cities or very small towns, as there isn't the infrastructure or resources on the continent to supply a medium-sized city. As a resident of a "medium-sized city" in a nation full of medium-sized cities, I can't relate to that experience. I bet China's got a lot of those, however.

This was a shame, for as I've said, I really like most of his other works and agree with his viewpoints, but his apparent faith in the western/American way of life as the solution for the future for everyone everywhere (as long as we regulate it and educated ourselves and learn control - you know, all those things that are highly valued in America *he says with a note of sarcasm*) is extraordinarily disappointing. He even uses the example of the Dutch and their collective concern for each other because of their need to maintain their sea walls, lest they all drown - seeming to believe that Americans are just one campfire-cocoa-chat away from becoming perfect collectivists...

Jared Diamond's non-fiction work Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail & Succeed quite definitely has an exceedingly broad scope, attempting to discern the variables that cause a country or a specific geographic landscape to survive or to encounter a gradual or a precipitous decline. The areas examined initially may not appear to have much in common but the author focuses on the ways in which various stresses occur within a group of people and their responses to whatever imperils their continued health & future existence, ranging from New Guinea to Rwanda-Burundi to Easter Island to Greenland.



Interestingly, the book begins with an area of particular interest to Jared Diamond & his family, Montana, and a consideration of how wealthy folks buying 3rd or 4th homes in that state, so-called "trophy or investment homes" that are seldom visited, together with large-scale mining interests bringing destructive side-effects such as toxic waste have changed the character of the western state.

To be sure, there is ambiguity in the manner in which the author portrays specific declines but his investigation of cultures under stress & the decisions each makes or fails to make seem in each case quite interesting, even if not always completely captivating. In the case of Easter Island, the causes for ecological demise are internal, including deforestation & suggesting a parallel with many places around the globe today, Haiti included among them.

Jared Diamond demonstrates how Maya culture differed from Anasazi, with the former having written records but no pack animals, thus making expansion or movement less possible. Mayan calendars date from 3,114 BC, 2,500 years prior to "New World" calendars. Mayan diets are examined & it is noted that unlike Aztec & Inca cultures, Mayans were largely rooted in place, making empire & also war less possible.

Collapse has an environmental emphasis but a sociological component as well, for example suggesting that with the Vikings "trading led to raiding" but in the case of Greenland, a sense of racial superiority or ethnocentrism prevented the Viking "colonists" in Greenland from learning survival techniques from the native Inuit who might have served as willing partners, eventually leading to the demise of their initially prosperous settlement. Again, unwholesome treatment of the land + an innate arrogance precipitated the downfall, as the Norse population bespoiled the land, failed to adapt to a new landscape, sought to preserve customs that were alien to a different part of the world & looked upon the native Inuit as competition.



Meanwhile, the Tikopia people of New Guinea seem to have developed a naturally benevolent form of sustainability of their own lands & but often at a "stiff price". They practiced crop rotation & a balance of nature but also engaged in population control that involved euthanasia, infanticide & clan wars.

Japan also has done an excellent job of retaining nature in the midst of a very crowded environment, achieving zero population growth, though the Ainu on the northern island of Hokkaido were made dependent on Japan & weaned from their own self-sustaining mode of life. It seems that in Japan the seafood diet meant an absence of cows, goats & other animals that were not always advantageous for the soil and also the ruling Shogan & local guards served as ecological stewards of the land.

Thomas Malthus is cited because populations often expand well beyond the ability of the soil to produce sufficient crops for increasing humanity because "populations expand exponentially & food production expands arithmetically".

Other variables explored include people following historically valued but outmoded patterns of behavior toward the land (which the author labels "sunk cost effect"), the effect of globalization & how high to extreme population density can be a factor in the cause of genocide, with Rwanda-Burundi as an example. One of the most compelling images is a map with an overlap of nations that are both environmental & political trouble-spots today. Beyond that, globalism is said to link us all, both via technology & increasing toxic waste.

Jared Diamond's Collapse appeared in 2005 & some elements of the book now seem somewhat dated. Presently people tend to avoid terminology that references "1st World vs. 3rd World" countries, etc. The material covered is indeed often treated with a broad brush & there is more than a little repetition in the book. Also, there are some rather obscure words & with a 550+ page book, a glossary would not have represented a burdensome expansion.

That said, I enjoyed the curious approach of Jared Diamond's scholarship, the portrayed linkages between overcrowding & deforestation, the author's commentary about the preeminent importance of sustainability & his guardedly positive sense of the future of our planet.



Jared Diamond has an eclectic background with degrees in Anthropology, History, Physiology & Bioethics from Harvard & Cambridge Universities. *There are 24 pages of black & white photos, including images of Easter Island & Angkor Wat, with the latter treated by Diamond in an epilogue to the book. Collapse is recommended by the Cambridge University Programme for Sustainability Leadership.

This is a difficult book to give one rating to. Some parts of it deserve four or five stars, some parts deserve one or two. Generally, Collapse lacks the consistency of Diamond's most well known book, Guns, Germs and Steel. Where Guns, Germs and Steel is nearly intuitive in the simpleness but universal applicability of its principles, Collapse is episodic and fractured. Diamond's basic thesis is that societies in ecologically fragile environments "choose" to succeed or fail based on how willing they are to adopt to their environment, and how conscience they are of environmental change.

I was very interested in the sections about the collapse of the Easter Island society, as well as Diamond's extended discussion of the Greenland Norse. There are also some chilling examples of island societies that disappeared entirely. Modern examples of collapses include Rwanda and Haiti.

The book started boring me towards the end, when Diamond stops telling the story of particular societies and begins to expound at length about the principles that unite these examples. It quickly becomes clear that there are as many or more principles and factors as there are examples in the book.

Overall, I would recommend reading sections of this book, but not the whole thing. If you are someone who cannot stop reading a book once you get into it, you should probably avoid Collapse, as it will trap you.