Guns Germs And Steel Summary

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies written by Jared Diamond travels through the different aspects of human societies starting from modern human’s pre-Homo ancestors comparing the different variations that have occurred throughout time, ending at the modern Homo sapiens in the world today. The focus of this book is why some societies strive while other fail. Diamond looked at the different advantages and disadvantages of the areas these societies lived in and in his own words deriving the thesis “History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among people’s environments, not because of biological differences between peoples themselves” (25). Diamond’s thesis follows the lines of the overarching question; have geography and the distribution of natural resources
He brings in historical, proven examples of societies that have beaten out others for the pure reason of their environment and not their biological evolution. One example given by the author to support this idea is comparing Homo neanderthalensis and Cro-Magnons within part one of the book. Cro-Magnons are distant ancestors from where the anatomically modern Homo sapiens derived. Although it has been proven Homo neanderthalensis had a larger cranial capacity than modern humans, which correlates to a higher degree of intelligence, they however are the ones that are extinct. Diamond follows this line of thinking throughout the book, focusing on a multitude of different topics that could have affected the lives of past peoples. Overall, Guns, Germs and Steel is an exceptional book concentrated on the outcomes of past human societies although it does have its up and downs in