This book was groundbreaking - I actually started this book in order to explore how societies have flourished and vanished over the course of the years. I expected to receive an overview of all factors, politically, economically and environmentally. However, Jared Diamond only concentrates to the environmentally factors - not only limiting himself to the disasters (Eastern Island, Maya's and the Anasazi) but also the success stories (the Tokugawa Japanese).

However, Jared not only limits himself to the history, but also drawes conclusions for our present. He shows us that we are facing the same disaster that happened upon our ancestors and in a few decades our modern world will face the same issues that were faced by the above called cultures.

Jared strongly focuses upon the fact that we need to take the matters in our own hands in order to be able to transfer our world to our children.

This was an outcome that I did not expect in this book, but has changed my attitude towards my own environment. It's not too late (although it's 5 minutes before midnight) but we need to act NOW.

We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children

Terrifying how often the pattern of exploitation of nature and decline of cultures has repeated itself.

The fitting additional book to Diamonds work "Guns Germs and Steel" offers past and present scenarios of various environmental conditions and the mastery or miserable failure of the peoples trying to master the challenge. Especially in isolated societies, where the socio-cultural aspect is much more emphasized by the absence of invaders or other disturbing factors, the processes leading to the formation of today's ruins or prosperous cities are described.

As a classic positive example, Iceland, which counters the desolation of the climate zone and infertility of barren landscapes with strong community feeling and intelligent farming, can be named. Other isolated island states, such as Easter Island and other ghost islands, have been caught in the throes of social degeneration and driven to self-destruction by meaningless, prestigious or religiously driven construction projects, civil wars, exploitation of natural resources to the collapse of the ecosystem, or a bit of this and that mixed up together.

Often there was an old tradition of proven survival strategies on the failed island states, but their practice was mostly forgotten or ignored in the course of the delusion, resulting in the collapse of the social system and the extinction of the tribe.

How the authors' theses could be applied to the history of the development of more significant, continental nations would be highly enjoyable. This would probably be far too far-reaching and hypothetical because of the added complexity, which is why Diamond didn´t mention it, but it would make a great, new research area. The factors that are taken into account, such as climate change, hostile neighbors, environmental destruction, breaking an alliance or loss of support from friendly neighbors and, as a decisive factor, the reaction of the population and ruling caste, already present a high potential for complexity. Therefore, it would no longer be concluded with scientific seriousness by introducing additional factors such as in the case of the Roman Empire or other fallen empires.

It is noteworthy that the scheme of slow degeneration through creeping degradation of cultural as well as naturally given resources can strike both relatively primitive, almost Stone Age societies as unexpectedly as highly developed and militarily nearly unbeatable empires. Despite the admonishers of the respective time, fanaticism and megalomania became the leading motive and in hindsight apparent nonsensical and self-destructive mechanisms leaked into politics until it was accepted as usual and criticism was negated until the downfall.

At this point, it makes sense to see the accordances with the present and to illustrate the classic repetition of the history using various examples. Thus, even after dozens of vivid and illustrative learning examples from the history of what one should avoid as a state, the same, actually, precisely recognizable mistakes are committed today.
Whether it is negligent, irreversible environmental destruction, political destabilization until to the collapse of state and social order, including genocide and targeted destruction of infrastructure until relapse into archaic forms of government and theocracy, there is a wide range of patterns.

Their use seems to be so desirable to humanity that repeated attempts can no longer be construed as just perseverance. But instead, as ignorance and incompetence of elites, to whom a brief reading of any historical atlas could give numerous examples of the futility of their present action. The big and anxious question after completing the book remains whether we, as a society, may have not jumped on the wrong train for far too long. One that not only directs individual islands, regions or states, as described in the book, but the entire planet and the civilization living on it, on a path into the abyss.

A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real-life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_D...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaps...

Should be required reading for anyone running for office, or for anyone voting. The list of reasons for why societies collapse are all things that are happening now in our country, not to mention throughout the world.

Diamond is well qualified to write this as he is Professor of Geography at the University of California. In this book he looks at the reasons why some societies survive and others fail.
The first chapter of the book considers Montana, it seems slightly odd as this is still a functioning state, but it has dropped to 49th in the state income chart from one of the top earners. It has always been a mining and logging state and is blessed with some of the most beautiful landscape. And yet there are underlying problems there; mine owners that have extracted the ore and have not considered the costs incurred with clean up; forests fires that proper management would reduce but that the local population won’t consider; invasion of non native species that have in certain case devastated local species, and so on. Part of the reason for the decline is people who live there temporarily and are not prepared to be part of the local community by paying taxes, but still want the landscape to remain as it is. Montana is dependent upon external monies coming in now, and if those were to dry up, then its circumstances will become perilous.
Diamond looks at the evidence for Easter Island that suggests the reason for its decline was that the local population had eaten all the native animals and felled all the trees. This led to rapid erosion of the soils and further degradation of the landscape. By this time the natives had been contacted by Europeans, who bought with the diseases such as small pox, and their fate was sealed.
Diamond then expands these theories of societies collapsing by looking at The Pitcairn Islands, The Chaco and the Maya. All of these had substantial populations in their time, and either had consumed most or all or their resources locally, or were living at the limit of what the environment could sustain. All it took was a shock of some form, i.e. a drought, and the population would take a dip, either temporarily or permanently.
The next three chapters look at the Vikings. Most people know of the violent expansion of these Scandinavian people into England and France, but they also established settlements in Iceland and Greenland. They arrived there just as the climate was favourable, and brought with them their farming techniques from Europe. The environment there is very fragile, and with the import of livestock to the land stripped back the trees and the grass. This led to significant erosion of the landscape and made a perilous existence even more susceptible to shock. They failed to learn from the Inuit people, who used the local resources sustainably. The Norse are still there in Iceland, but parts of the landscape there have been devastated.
The third section of the book looks at the state that some modern societies are in; China, Australia, Rwanda, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Each of these have particular problems from over population to corruption to serious environmental issues. For each there is a detailed description of the problems that they have got, either of their own making, or because of external factors like weather.
The final section is about how we as a planet can deal with these problems. He gives examples of oil companies who now routinely start with the best environmental methods as they know it saves them money in the long term, gives them credibility and more opportunities. He compares these to mining companies who frankly couldn’t give a monkeys, and who use all the political clout they have to pass all the cleanup costs to the state, even to the point of declaring bankruptcy to avoid these costs and staring a new company soon after.
He then list the twelve points that he thinks will have to be resolved, note not solved, as he thinks that these may be resolved by violence and war. He detail two of the organizations that are trying to put in place sustainable organizations, and showed that consumers are aware of them, and what they are trying to achieve.
He sees see some hope though. Humanity would not have got this far if we had always eradicated ourselves at each stage. That said, he does realise that we are at the point where our action will affect millions of people unless we do something soon.
This was an interesting read. Diamond has written a comprehensive book detailing all manner of reason why a society fades or suddenly ends. Even though I found it fascinating, I have only given it three stars as it is now out of date, and I feel could not do with being re written. I have one of his other books on my shelf, and I aim o read that soon.
The book can be summed up though by the American Indian quote: “When the Last Tree Is Cut Down, the Last Fish Eaten, and the Last Stream Poisoned, You Will Realize That You Cannot Eat Money”

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.

Jared is one of my favorite professors in his fields, he keeps his shit together with much integrity and when in doubt, he announce

The book title speak for itself, I believe that it's a pleasant read never the less, recommend for anybody who wanna know the fate of some of the old civilizations..and the impending doom of the current ones..

Drink Tea..

If I could give this negative stars I would. Just another example of Jared Diamond writing a book on something he doesn't know anything about, and spinning narratives that are harmful and dangerous into palatable books for public consumption.

Turns out that Diamond was simply passing along received wisdom about Easter Island that has been refuted by subsequent researchers and scholars.

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His story about the conquest of the Incas by the Spanish has also been pre-empted by fresh scholarship. This documentary explains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JZKU...

I don't know what it is about Jared Diamond - I just can't seem to get as impressed by this man as I'm apparently supposed to be, Genius Award and all. The man needs an editor, for one thing: at least 200 pages of this 500-plus monstrosity were parenthetical tangents that belonged in footnotes. His work is often referred to as "staggering," which, I'm now convinced, refers not to his intellect so much as to the overwhelming quantity of minutae he presents the reader as if it were a substitute for analysis. It is staggering - and incredibly boring at points. I had to force myself to finish this book, and it took weeks - I usually devour good books in a matter of days.

There are fascinating details in here - all is not lost. I loved the sections dealing with the Maya, the Anasazi, Easter Island, and the successful anarchism of the New Guinea highlanders. However, I fear that anyone reading this book with the intention of understanding better how to avoid the global collapse we seem to be heading for will be sorely disappointed. His summaries and, ultimately, his thesis are weak and hidden within a snow flurry of excess detail.

Fascinating work by the same author who won a Pulitzer prize for Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.

This exhaustive study in Malthusian economics as applied to several societies in history that have failed, such as the Easter Islanders and Greenland Norse, details the thematic traits common to each example. His chapter on Easter Island made me think of Thor Heyerdahl's work there.

Most notably is how deforestation and imprudent population control applies to modern societies in trouble as well. I find myself thinking about this work frequently, his ideas resonate with our times, mirroring as they do, and as he shows us, with failed societies of the past.

Haunting and thought provoking and a damn fine book.

** 2018 addendum - it is a testament to great literature that a reader recalls the work years later and this is a book about which I frequently think. When I think about this book, I think about the Greenland Norse and the Polynesians. Great book.

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

I read this book over six weeks from February through March 2006. It took a lot of effort but was excellent. It is filled with excellent observations on different societies and why they failed or excelled. Much of his observations were new to me but were well documented and reasonable. In addition, to information on various societies was an introduction to various field methods of study that were amazing. So, he shows what is the current research into archeology (and all its arcane specialties) but how they provide information on former civilizations.

Easter Island – Why did the society collapse and why did they build those statues. Easter Island is somewhat unique. It is a temperate zone island as opposed to tropical for most Polynesian settle areas. Second, it was much farther away from other Polynesian islands. Diamond’s hypothesis on Easter Island’s demise is deforestation. He sites two interesting studies – pollen studies from soil samples and second checking charcoal ashes from garbage heaps. They both show a decline in large palm trees. Even more interesting is the loss of a species of Giant Palm and then the loses of other types of palm. The tree lose also meant they lost transportation as the Giant Palms were used to make the ocean going canoes. Also, the moia sites show increased activity as the resources were being depleted and then signs of warfare and the societies collapse.
Easter island more than other locations was more fragile because it was dry, temperate, and isolated.

Anasazi - This area of the southwest has been repeated settled and then collapse. Basically, this is very marginal area to live (it’s a desert). It gets wetter for 50-100 years and new people settle the area, deplete the resources (soil), population increases, and then it gets dry and everyone kills each other or moves on. Diamond’s point is that it is multiple factors that cause their collapse and not to focus on the last war or migration but the underlying environmental issues causing the crises. Chaco Canyon was probably the most advanced site. Again, the main cause of collapse was deforestation. Here, the biologist studied the crystallized urine pellets of packrats to see how the fauna had changed – Amazing. Packrats have been living in the area for 40K years. They found that this area used to be moderately forested with Pinyon pines. An example of impending collapse – remains of headless mice in the human preserved dry feces suggesting people were catching and eating mice whole. Also, the latest construction (based on tree ring studies) is defensive walls and gates. Finally, limited portable objects (pottery, knives) are left at the site, so the majority probably migrated.


Maya – Here is again an area where few modern people live, yet there were hundreds of thousands of people in an advanced Society at one point. Mayan were limited by several factors (from Guns, Germs, and Steel) – poor crops only corn, not wheat or barley and few domestic animals. The suspect cause of collapse here is soil fertility. This area has poor soils and Mayan’s had limited crop options. They first farmed the valleys and then the hills. Once they removed the trees from the hills, the hill sides eroded, leaving even less farmable land. Evidence is based on the decline of nutrition based on reviewing the skeletons by age. Second, by pollen studies that show loss of native trees and replacement by crop pollen. After a city collapse, increases in native tree pollen. The other factor was long term climate change in rain fall. From 5500 bc to 500B.C is relatively wet. Then it cycles every 100 or so years. This was determined by studying the isotopes of Oxygen in the lake bed sediment. In dry years, there is more evaporation and a different ratio of Isotopes (lighter isotopes evaporate faster).

Vikings – There were several Viking colonies of variable success. The most remote and quickest to fail was vineland (Canada). Basically, the native Americans were able to push the Vikings out. Since this was the farthest away, there was no way to send a large force of technologically superior Vikings (Vikings had iron). Greenland was the next farthest and Diamond spends two chapters on them. They lasted for about 400 years before Collapsing. He argues for multiple factors – first, loss of contact with the homeland and trade. In the late 1400s, Norway had a new king and internal issues that reduced shipping from 4 ships a year to one every decade. The other cause of reduced shipping was the crusades open up Africa Ivory trade which decrease need for Greenlands major export crop of Walrus Ivory. Archeologists found less and less iron in construction and iron tools. Knives are sharpened to the nub. Further, Greenland has no large trees for shipbuilding. All ships had to come from Europe. Second, climate change made it colder. This is marginal area for farming, so decreased growing season is critical. Third, was not adapting from home country ideals. They kept cows as a status item which required tremendous pasture and hay production. Goats would be better in this marginal land. Fourth, soil loss. Cattle and hay production reduce the fertility of the soil. The final stroke was the expansion of the Inuit into Greenland. Inuit were able to harvest whales and other fauna not used by the Norse. Inuit were probably able to overrun the few remain survivors as the survivors had no advantages in Iron.
In Iceland, the norse survived. They were closer to Norway to be able to be resupplied. However, it is not sustainable. Iceland has had complete forest removal and is not bare as the moon in many areas.