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Jared Diamond

Collapse : how societies choose to fail or survive

There are many predictions of gloom and doom today, but it's hard to know how seriously to take them. Is our society really heading towards disaster, or will we manage to get by as we have done in the past. In 'Collapse', Jared Diamond gives examples of societies which have indeed come to and end, and he hopes that we might learn something from them. What was the Easter Islander who cut down the last tree thinking? - without trees their society was clearly doomed. Diamond shows that it isn't simply a case of environmental stupidity, rather numerous factors contribute to the downfall of a society. He ends with a note of cautious optimism - we should be able to survive, but we will need to make some difficult choices.

It has to be said that this is a long book. Examples are taken from all over the world, and as well as past societies, Diamond looks at several problem areas in the modern world. He is skilled at keeping the interest of the reader, so it doesn't get boring. He does this though by giving the history of each of the societies in considerable detail - it's not the sort of book you can simply skim through. Hence some readers might find it intimidating. But my feeling is that its certainly worth the effort - it gives a balanced view of many of the environmental problems facing the world today.

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Paperback 592 pages
ISBN: 0143036556
Salesrank: 1144
Weight:1.1 lbs

Published: 2005 Penguin (Non-Classics)

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Amazon.co.uk info

Paperback 592 pages
ISBN: 0140279512
Salesrank: 1531
Weight:0.97 lbs

Published: 2006 Penguin Books Ltd

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Paperback 592 pages
ISBN: 0143036556
Salesrank: 4204
Weight:1.1 lbs

Published: 2005 Penguin Paperbacks

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Product Description
In his runaway bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond brilliantly examined the circumstances that allowed Western civilizations to dominate much of the world. Now he probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to fall into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates? Using a vast historical and geographical perspective ranging from Easter Island and the Maya to Viking Greenland and modern Montana, Diamond traces a fundamental pattern of environmental catastrophe—one whose warning signs can be seen in our modern world and that we ignore at our peril. Blending the most recent scientific advances into a narrative that is impossible to put down, Collapse exposes the deepest mysteries of the past even as it offers hope for the future. “Diamond’s most influential gift may be his ability to write about geopolitical and environmental systems in ways that don’t just educate and provoke, but entertain.” —The Seattle Times “Extremely persuasive . . . replete with fascinating stories, a treasure trove of historical anecdotes [and] haunting statistics.” —The Boston Globe “Extraordinary in erudition and originality, compelling in [its] ability to relate the digitized pandemonium of the present to the hushed agrarian sunrises of the far past.” —The New York Times Book Review

Product Description

In his runaway bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond brilliantly examined the circumstances that allowed Western civilizations to dominate much of the world. Now he probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to fall into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates? Using a vast historical and geographical perspective ranging from Easter Island and the Maya to Viking Greenland and modern Montana, Diamond traces a fundamental pattern of environmental catastrophe—one whose warning signs can be seen in our modern world and that we ignore at our peril. Blending the most recent scientific advances into a narrative that is impossible to put down, Collapse exposes the deepest mysteries of the past even as it offers hope for the future.

“Diamond’s most influential gift may be his ability to write about geopolitical and environmental systems in ways that don’t just educate and provoke, but entertain.” —The Seattle Times

“Extremely persuasive . . . replete with fascinating stories, a treasure trove of historical anecdotes [and] haunting statistics.” —The Boston Globe

“Extraordinary in erudition and originality, compelling in [its] ability to relate the digitized pandemonium of the present to the hushed agrarian sunrises of the far past.” —The New York Times Book Review

Good overview of the relationship between the environment & politics ****
This book makes an good and convincing case for the importance of environmental issues as they affect the well being of all societies developed and developing. The book is centered around the collapse of past societies, although this is only one of four sections in the book. The first section concerns the environmental problems of Montana to give the reader a personal perspective of societies interaction with its environmental problems. The second section gives the book its title and Diamond goes into the collapse of several historical societies - the Maya, Easter Island, the Greenland Norse, and numerous other societies. One of Diamond's strengths is that he tries to end on a positive note and in the second section he examines historical societies that overcame environmental problems. The third section looks at modern societies facing environmental problems - Hati, Rwanda, Australia and others. Here the author looks at how the same problems that affected past societies are still relevant because they are affecting societies around us today. He also looks to strengthen the connection that he started in the first two sections between environmental problems and political problems. Diamond goes through great lengths to stress that he does not believe that one's fate is solely determined by the environment, but he makes a good case that a society cannot properly combat their political fate without understanding their environmental problems. The forth section is meant to make all of the lessons discussed in the previous chapters relevant to the readers of the book - mainly well-off, first world citizens. He looks at the obstacles to confronting environmental problems and how to best influence companies and societies. Throughout the book I think Diamond makes a good effort to maintain a balance view and to legitimately understand and address the complaints that many people raise to environmentalist agendas. While I do not consider this to be an overarching book on the world's problems and how to solve them, it would be a good addition to the reading list of anyone who wants to understand the relationship of environmental and political problems and some steps that can be taken to solve them.

Good overview of the relationship between the environment & politics ****

This book makes an good and convincing case for the importance of environmental issues as they affect the well being of all societies developed and developing.

The book is centered around the collapse of past societies, although this is only one of four sections in the book. The first section concerns the environmental problems of Montana to give the reader a personal perspective of societies interaction with its environmental problems. The second section gives the book its title and Diamond goes into the collapse of several historical societies - the Maya, Easter Island, the Greenland Norse, and numerous other societies. One of Diamond's strengths is that he tries to end on a positive note and in the second section he examines historical societies that overcame environmental problems. The third section looks at modern societies facing environmental problems - Hati, Rwanda, Australia and others. Here the author looks at how the same problems that affected past societies are still relevant because they are affecting societies around us today. He also looks to strengthen the connection that he started in the first two sections between environmental problems and political problems. Diamond goes through great lengths to stress that he does not believe that one's fate is solely determined by the environment, but he makes a good case that a society cannot properly combat their political fate without understanding their environmental problems. The forth section is meant to make all of the lessons discussed in the previous chapters relevant to the readers of the book - mainly well-off, first world citizens. He looks at the obstacles to confronting environmental problems and how to best influence companies and societies.

Throughout the book I think Diamond makes a good effort to maintain a balance view and to legitimately understand and address the complaints that many people raise to environmentalist agendas. While I do not consider this to be an overarching book on the world's problems and how to solve them, it would be a good addition to the reading list of anyone who wants to understand the relationship of environmental and political problems and some steps that can be taken to solve them.

Warms up after the first couple chapters *****
Not quite as good as his best-known book, "Guns, Germs and Steel", mostly because the first 50 pages are about Montana. Who cares about Montana? I barely even know where it is. But after that it gets wicked awesome. Unfortunately you can't really skip the Montana parts - too many concepts are introduced that you'll need later - but hey, it's Diamond; you can suck it up for 50 pages. Vikings come later. Vikings!

Warms up after the first couple chapters *****

Not quite as good as his best-known book, "Guns, Germs and Steel", mostly because the first 50 pages are about Montana. Who cares about Montana? I barely even know where it is. But after that it gets wicked awesome. Unfortunately you can't really skip the Montana parts - too many concepts are introduced that you'll need later - but hey, it's Diamond; you can suck it up for 50 pages. Vikings come later. Vikings!

Obvious pluses and not so obvious minuses ***
Jared Diamond has a gift for explaining complex phenomena to the average person in a way that is captivating and digestible. In this book, he tackles a topic (the collapse of societies) that is depressing to some and terrifying to others (I suppose it is infuriating to those who just want to be free to build a mine with no environmental protection). He manages to keep the reader's attention for over five hundred pages and leave us with hope for the future -- if we can learn the lessons of the past. He is well read and there is a lot of research behind the book. These are the chief positives. I read the book and was quite taken by it. The negatives take a bit more time to appreciate. Although Diamond creates a fairly consistent picture that supports his five point framework, it seems that there are other versions of some of the stories (e.g., the fate of the Greenland Norse) that may not fit it so well. Also, if you abstract the five point framework you get something like this: there are five factors that lead to societal collapse (self inflicted environmental damage, climate change, the presence of hostile neighbors, the absence of trading partners and finally the efficacy of societies response to the previously mentioned four factors), not all apply in all cases and of course there are other factors (not featured) that sometimes apply. At that point one is tempted to ask, why is five a magic number? I believe the answer is because those are the factors that Diamond wants to talk about -- or because those are the five that the average person wants to hear about. They fit my agenda so I initially accepted them at face value. It was not until I was challenged to think of other factors that lead to societal collapse that the five point framework started to collapse for me (e.g., didn't Jared Diamond write a Pulitzer Prize winning book called " Guns, GERMS and Steel" that talks about the devastating effects that pestilence had on the indigenous cultures of the New World?) . If the five point framework has value, it is as a literary device, not a scientific theory. If taken seriously, it is the kind of framework that finds its way into orthodoxy and creates barriers for further investigation. To me this is a fairly big minus. Some may say I analyze too much: I should just read and enjoy. But isn't that, after all, the point of scientific inquiry? Isn't that supposed to be the basis for such a book?

Obvious pluses and not so obvious minuses ***

Jared Diamond has a gift for explaining complex phenomena to the average person in a way that is captivating and digestible. In this book, he tackles a topic (the collapse of societies) that is depressing to some and terrifying to others (I suppose it is infuriating to those who just want to be free to build a mine with no environmental protection). He manages to keep the reader's attention for over five hundred pages and leave us with hope for the future -- if we can learn the lessons of the past. He is well read and there is a lot of research behind the book. These are the chief positives. I read the book and was quite taken by it.

The negatives take a bit more time to appreciate. Although Diamond creates a fairly consistent picture that supports his five point framework, it seems that there are other versions of some of the stories (e.g., the fate of the Greenland Norse) that may not fit it so well. Also, if you abstract the five point framework you get something like this: there are five factors that lead to societal collapse (self inflicted environmental damage, climate change, the presence of hostile neighbors, the absence of trading partners and finally the efficacy of societies response to the previously mentioned four factors), not all apply in all cases and of course there are other factors (not featured) that sometimes apply. At that point one is tempted to ask, why is five a magic number? I believe the answer is because those are the factors that Diamond wants to talk about -- or because those are the five that the average person wants to hear about. They fit my agenda so I initially accepted them at face value. It was not until I was challenged to think of other factors that lead to societal collapse that the five point framework started to collapse for me (e.g., didn't Jared Diamond write a Pulitzer Prize winning book called " Guns, GERMS and Steel" that talks about the devastating effects that pestilence had on the indigenous cultures of the New World?) . If the five point framework has value, it is as a literary device, not a scientific theory. If taken seriously, it is the kind of framework that finds its way into orthodoxy and creates barriers for further investigation. To me this is a fairly big minus.

Some may say I analyze too much: I should just read and enjoy. But isn't that, after all, the point of scientific inquiry? Isn't that supposed to be the basis for such a book?

Critical topic, excellent scholarship, yet very accessible *****
I have been following the many trends on ecology, politics, and economics for many years. I'll admit I'm a complete pessimist in regards to human nature. Yet Diamond's book gives me a bit of hope that the message of stewardship vs resource consumption may be considered in a systematic way. My hope derives (ironically) from the well-researched conclusion that without a change of course, our planet's ruling class will soon face political/economic unrest resulting from widespread starvation, disease, and death. Diamond presents overwhelming evidence from the past and current state of affairs to support this idea, without sounding preachy. The bummer is that in the past, rulers insulated themselves from the unrest rather than addressing societal problems, until it was far too late. The dying masses eventually revolted and killed the rulers along with their neighbors. Perhaps through this book (and others like it), those in power today will absorb this lesson and try to avoid the grisly finale. The scholarship of the book is excellent, as is the writing; later chapters are somewhat more speculative about the eventual impact of humans. Some of the later chapters have a bit of a redundant feel too, as if the author makes his point a few too many times. Yet this is easily the most thoughtful book I've read on a very important topic: what happens when a society becomes it's own worst enemy due to shortsighted policy and a relatively comfortable existence based primarily on depletion of natural resources and ignorance of waste. I recommend this book more than any other I've read in several years; it is well written, scholarly, and compelling. Enough said. You owe it to yourself to read it, and then pass along the recommendation.

Critical topic, excellent scholarship, yet very accessible *****

I have been following the many trends on ecology, politics, and economics for many years. I'll admit I'm a complete pessimist in regards to human nature. Yet Diamond's book gives me a bit of hope that the message of stewardship vs resource consumption may be considered in a systematic way. My hope derives (ironically) from the well-researched conclusion that without a change of course, our planet's ruling class will soon face political/economic unrest resulting from widespread starvation, disease, and death.

Diamond presents overwhelming evidence from the past and current state of affairs to support this idea, without sounding preachy. The bummer is that in the past, rulers insulated themselves from the unrest rather than addressing societal problems, until it was far too late. The dying masses eventually revolted and killed the rulers along with their neighbors. Perhaps through this book (and others like it), those in power today will absorb this lesson and try to avoid the grisly finale.

The scholarship of the book is excellent, as is the writing; later chapters are somewhat more speculative about the eventual impact of humans. Some of the later chapters have a bit of a redundant feel too, as if the author makes his point a few too many times. Yet this is easily the most thoughtful book I've read on a very important topic: what happens when a society becomes it's own worst enemy due to shortsighted policy and a relatively comfortable existence based primarily on depletion of natural resources and ignorance of waste.

I recommend this book more than any other I've read in several years; it is well written, scholarly, and compelling. Enough said. You owe it to yourself to read it, and then pass along the recommendation.

condition not revealed **
I was sorry to find underlining in the book. Underlining should be revealed as part of the condition of the book,

condition not revealed **

I was sorry to find underlining in the book. Underlining should be revealed as part of the condition of the book,

Fascinating stories - unconvincing conclusions ***
The book starts with a fascinating collection of stories about historical societies that have collapsed due to ecological disasters. These stories are very fascinating and include stories such as: Easter Island, The Norse in Greenland and the collapse of the Maya civilisation. Later in the book Diamond moves on to describe moderns problems and this is where the book gets confusing. He has chapters about mining waste in Montana and erosion of soil in Australia. The country of Australia is not likely to collapse due to soil erosion (And Diamond admits that), so why did he put a chapter about Australia in his book about collapsing societies? Summing up there are a lot of good stories in the book, and it does make a lasting impression, but the editor should have forced Diamond to remove those chapters that are not relevant to his central point. That could have made the book more trustworthy and clearcut.

Fascinating stories - unconvincing conclusions ***

The book starts with a fascinating collection of stories about historical societies that have collapsed due to ecological disasters. These stories are very fascinating and include stories such as: Easter Island, The Norse in Greenland and the collapse of the Maya civilisation.

Later in the book Diamond moves on to describe moderns problems and this is where the book gets confusing. He has chapters about mining waste in Montana and erosion of soil in Australia. The country of Australia is not likely to collapse due to soil erosion (And Diamond admits that), so why did he put a chapter about Australia in his book about collapsing societies?

Summing up there are a lot of good stories in the book, and it does make a lasting impression, but the editor should have forced Diamond to remove those chapters that are not relevant to his central point. That could have made the book more trustworthy and clearcut.

A humourless, ponderous treatise *
This book can be found in the popular-science section of book shops yet is categorised by Penguin, its publisher, as an history book. Neither label does it full justice. Instead, it seems to be an ecological survey of a remote region of the United States (Montana) where the author spends his vacations and whose inhabitants he occasionally quotes, such as: "I like trees. They oughtn't cut them down". As such it is mind-numbingly, bone-achingly, tediously dull. Imagine the most boring geography lesson you ever had and then rather than its being a single or (God forbid) double period imagine it was all day and you weren't even allowed a break for lunch. Do that and you will begin to approach the boredom of reading this book. Undoubtedly Diamond is a very clever man -- loads of people enjoy his books and heap praise on him -- only as far as I'm concerned he flatly fails to infect the reader with his own enthusiasm for the subject matter in this case. Too often -- right from the start, in fact -- he gets bogged down with unnecessary fine details. Essentially there's too much information and this reader at least suffered from information overload. Do we really need to know all about Montana's disused mines, forest fires, soil erosion, irrigation, etc.? Who cares? I want to know about those ancient Mayan cities poking out of the jungle and the stone statues of Easter Island. But to get to those bits one must wade through the environmental concerns of a nondescript US state. I'm glad I didn't pay the full RRP for this. Montanans, Diamond's friends (especially the ones he mentions, which means most of them), members of radical environmental campaigning groups, and academics with an interest in this area will enjoy this book. The curious lay reader will be disappointed. There are many excellent communicators of complex issues out there. Diamond isn't one of them.

A humourless, ponderous treatise *

This book can be found in the popular-science section of book shops yet is categorised by Penguin, its publisher, as an history book. Neither label does it full justice. Instead, it seems to be an ecological survey of a remote region of the United States (Montana) where the author spends his vacations and whose inhabitants he occasionally quotes, such as: "I like trees. They oughtn't cut them down". As such it is mind-numbingly, bone-achingly, tediously dull. Imagine the most boring geography lesson you ever had and then rather than its being a single or (God forbid) double period imagine it was all day and you weren't even allowed a break for lunch. Do that and you will begin to approach the boredom of reading this book. Undoubtedly Diamond is a very clever man -- loads of people enjoy his books and heap praise on him -- only as far as I'm concerned he flatly fails to infect the reader with his own enthusiasm for the subject matter in this case.

Too often -- right from the start, in fact -- he gets bogged down with unnecessary fine details. Essentially there's too much information and this reader at least suffered from information overload. Do we really need to know all about Montana's disused mines, forest fires, soil erosion, irrigation, etc.? Who cares? I want to know about those ancient Mayan cities poking out of the jungle and the stone statues of Easter Island. But to get to those bits one must wade through the environmental concerns of a nondescript US state. I'm glad I didn't pay the full RRP for this. Montanans, Diamond's friends (especially the ones he mentions, which means most of them), members of radical environmental campaigning groups, and academics with an interest in this area will enjoy this book. The curious lay reader will be disappointed. There are many excellent communicators of complex issues out there. Diamond isn't one of them.

Those who fail to learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them, aren't we? *****
American polymath Jared Diamond first turns to past societies to try and make sense of our present environmental predicament and to warn us of our future. Why did certain societies rush headlong to turmoil and collapse when in retrospect they must have been able to see the potential consequences of their actions, while others survived intact? Did this mean that some peoples were more rapacious or reckless than others? Is modern America heading in the same direction? Will one day in the future human beings stand and gaze at the skyscrapers of New York and shake their heads in knowing pity the way that we stare in sad wonderment at the enigmatic moai of Easter Island or overgrown Mayan ruins? The author takes twenty-first century Montana as a modern example of a land very badly abused in the recent past and with an environmental future in the balance, by delving deeply into its social history and fabric. Her then takes a look back at the meltdown on Easter Island, pre-Bounty Pitcairn and Henderson Islands, the native American civilizations of New Mexico, the collapse of the Maya, and the disappearance of the Greenland Vikings. Each case study is assessed in terms of five possible contributing factors that could have led to environmental collapse: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbours, friendly trade partners (lack of) and, perhaps most significantly, the society's responses to its environmental problems. All the case study societies were subjected to this five-point framework. At least one of these factors played a role in the collapse of all the societies reviewed, and in one all five contributed. But what about today? Why did Rwanda implode? How have some Polynesian societies like Tikopia survived against the odds while others have vanished? How have technologically simple societies in New Guinea and Australia managed to survive for over 40,000 years (including 7000 years of agriculture in New Guinea), while modern-day Europeans Australians already live on an environmental time bomb of their own making after just a couple of hundred years? Why has the Dominican Republic, poor as it is, managed far better than Haiti, sharing the same island and separated only by a political boundary? The in-depth case studies, fascinating in their own right, finally make way for an expansive assessment of the current global situation, dreadful as it, and some cautiously hopeful conclusions based on evidence of the past and certain mind shifts in the present, notably greener business practices (if motivated by self-preservation). In the end, much depends on good governance and an educated or pliable populace. This is a refreshing and highly intelligent way of looking at the current world written in precise language and related almost in story form with humour despite the gravity of the subject, and with profound human concern. I take on board the criticisms of excessive length and repetition but I prefer to use the term reiteration because it is still basically an educational text. Also, even small, technologically simple societies are microcosms of some modern societies and can act as models. The principals (planning and decisions in the light of available information) are the same today if the details differ. Sophisticated technology may aid us to deal with certain problems but it is just as likely to hasten environmental decline. Scientists are often criticised for producing arcane and inaccessible, peer-reviewed works and of course scientific research is worthless if it cannot be communicated. But then they stand to be accused of `dumbing down' or of writing in a `matey' or patronising style if they produce populist works. It is difficult to pitch a book at a level both interesting and useful for all and few have succeeded: E O Wilson, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Steve Jones and Jared Diamond spring top mind (from the biological sciences). A great book highly recommended to every thinking person at whatever educational level. With such an impressive body of research and, I'm sure, knowledge behind this book you should come away from it with a better understanding of the world, its history and its people, and hopefully a renewed determination to do something constructive, however small. If not, we may well be in the unenviable situation of being the first species to chronicle its own extinction.

Those who fail to learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them, aren't we? *****

American polymath Jared Diamond first turns to past societies to try and make sense of our present environmental predicament and to warn us of our future. Why did certain societies rush headlong to turmoil and collapse when in retrospect they must have been able to see the potential consequences of their actions, while others survived intact? Did this mean that some peoples were more rapacious or reckless than others? Is modern America heading in the same direction? Will one day in the future human beings stand and gaze at the skyscrapers of New York and shake their heads in knowing pity the way that we stare in sad wonderment at the enigmatic moai of Easter Island or overgrown Mayan ruins? The author takes twenty-first century Montana as a modern example of a land very badly abused in the recent past and with an environmental future in the balance, by delving deeply into its social history and fabric. Her then takes a look back at the meltdown on Easter Island, pre-Bounty Pitcairn and Henderson Islands, the native American civilizations of New Mexico, the collapse of the Maya, and the disappearance of the Greenland Vikings. Each case study is assessed in terms of five possible contributing factors that could have led to environmental collapse: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbours, friendly trade partners (lack of) and, perhaps most significantly, the society's responses to its environmental problems. All the case study societies were subjected to this five-point framework. At least one of these factors played a role in the collapse of all the societies reviewed, and in one all five contributed.
But what about today? Why did Rwanda implode? How have some Polynesian societies like Tikopia survived against the odds while others have vanished? How have technologically simple societies in New Guinea and Australia managed to survive for over 40,000 years (including 7000 years of agriculture in New Guinea), while modern-day Europeans Australians already live on an environmental time bomb of their own making after just a couple of hundred years? Why has the Dominican Republic, poor as it is, managed far better than Haiti, sharing the same island and separated only by a political boundary? The in-depth case studies, fascinating in their own right, finally make way for an expansive assessment of the current global situation, dreadful as it, and some cautiously hopeful conclusions based on evidence of the past and certain mind shifts in the present, notably greener business practices (if motivated by self-preservation). In the end, much depends on good governance and an educated or pliable populace.
This is a refreshing and highly intelligent way of looking at the current world written in precise language and related almost in story form with humour despite the gravity of the subject, and with profound human concern. I take on board the criticisms of excessive length and repetition but I prefer to use the term reiteration because it is still basically an educational text. Also, even small, technologically simple societies are microcosms of some modern societies and can act as models. The principals (planning and decisions in the light of available information) are the same today if the details differ. Sophisticated technology may aid us to deal with certain problems but it is just as likely to hasten environmental decline.
Scientists are often criticised for producing arcane and inaccessible, peer-reviewed works and of course scientific research is worthless if it cannot be communicated. But then they stand to be accused of `dumbing down' or of writing in a `matey' or patronising style if they produce populist works. It is difficult to pitch a book at a level both interesting and useful for all and few have succeeded: E O Wilson, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Steve Jones and Jared Diamond spring top mind (from the biological sciences). A great book highly recommended to every thinking person at whatever educational level. With such an impressive body of research and, I'm sure, knowledge behind this book you should come away from it with a better understanding of the world, its history and its people, and hopefully a renewed determination to do something constructive, however small. If not, we may well be in the unenviable situation of being the first species to chronicle its own extinction.

Excellent awareness raising book *****
Every resident of our shared planet should read this. I found this book very interesting for various reasons. JD concisely illustrates past civilisations and how they have collapsed. The history of these societies is very informative in itself. The most striking aspect of the book was how well it demonstrated the reality of collapse for our civilisations assuming the current unsustainable state indefinitely. However as JD points out, he is a "cautious optimist" and is keen to make us hopeful that our future lies in our own hands with the choices each individual makes.

Excellent awareness raising book *****

Every resident of our shared planet should read this.

I found this book very interesting for various reasons. JD concisely illustrates past civilisations and how they have collapsed. The history of these societies is very informative in itself. The most striking aspect of the book was how well it demonstrated the reality of collapse for our civilisations assuming the current unsustainable state indefinitely. However as JD points out, he is a "cautious optimist" and is keen to make us hopeful that our future lies in our own hands with the choices each individual makes.

Incredible breadth of vision *****
Writing about the collapse of even a single civilisation is difficult. To write about the collapse of more than a dozen, both ancient and modern, analysing with cogency and depth the human-mediated environmental causes along the way, is a real tour de force. Diamond takes the reader across the world, from Montana (USA) to Easter Island, from medieval Norse/Inuit Greenland to modern Rwanda, and explains how factors such as human mismanagement of forest and soil resources, trade problems and climate shifts caused societies that seemingly believed in their own invincibility to fail. The author is careful to steer away from environmental determinism, and has some cautiously optimistic words about the possible survival of our society now under threat from climate change (a threat whose severity he does not underestimate). One is nonetheless left with an abiding impression that humanity has an uncanny knack for sawing off the branch on which it is sitting. Riveting.

Incredible breadth of vision *****

Writing about the collapse of even a single civilisation is difficult. To write about the collapse of more than a dozen, both ancient and modern, analysing with cogency and depth the human-mediated environmental causes along the way, is a real tour de force. Diamond takes the reader across the world, from Montana (USA) to Easter Island, from medieval Norse/Inuit Greenland to modern Rwanda, and explains how factors such as human mismanagement of forest and soil resources, trade problems and climate shifts caused societies that seemingly believed in their own invincibility to fail. The author is careful to steer away from environmental determinism, and has some cautiously optimistic words about the possible survival of our society now under threat from climate change (a threat whose severity he does not underestimate). One is nonetheless left with an abiding impression that humanity has an uncanny knack for sawing off the branch on which it is sitting. Riveting.

Measured Warning ****
It was a pleasant surprise that Collapse was not as depressing as I thought it could be. Despite its gloomy subject matter, Jared Diamond's sober and lucid analysis is more reassuring than frightening, providing a measured warning to readers. Diamond uses the fascinating historical accounts of past societies (Easter Island, the Maya etc) to illustrate the common causes of societal failure, and repeatedly emphasizes the relevance of their demise to our current problems. (Perhaps a little too repeatedly as it is hard to miss the point.) Discussions about modern societies are even more interesting. I did not know that population pressure was behind the genocide in Rwanda. I did not know that seemingly harmless rabbits are devastating Australian soils either (which is sad as it is not really rabbits' fault). Diamond is also fair in recognizing the effort of some big businesses, along with government initiatives, in order to minimize environmental damage and develop sustainable resource management. If more companies follow suit and more governments consider environmental issues a priority, it would make a substantial difference. Surely this is not a new argument. However there is nothing wrong to remind us that, as consumers and society members, we can influence their decisions, if we choose to. This book may be too simplified for specialists but is a good starting point for the public audience like myself. It definitely helped me understand inter-relations between environmental issues and social, economic, political conditions.

Measured Warning ****

It was a pleasant surprise that Collapse was not as depressing as I thought it could be. Despite its gloomy subject matter, Jared Diamond's sober and lucid analysis is more reassuring than frightening, providing a measured warning to readers.

Diamond uses the fascinating historical accounts of past societies (Easter Island, the Maya etc) to illustrate the common causes of societal failure, and repeatedly emphasizes the relevance of their demise to our current problems. (Perhaps a little too repeatedly as it is hard to miss the point.)

Discussions about modern societies are even more interesting. I did not know that population pressure was behind the genocide in Rwanda. I did not know that seemingly harmless rabbits are devastating Australian soils either (which is sad as it is not really rabbits' fault).

Diamond is also fair in recognizing the effort of some big businesses, along with government initiatives, in order to minimize environmental damage and develop sustainable resource management. If more companies follow suit and more governments consider environmental issues a priority, it would make a substantial difference. Surely this is not a new argument. However there is nothing wrong to remind us that, as consumers and society members, we can influence their decisions, if we choose to.

This book may be too simplified for specialists but is a good starting point for the public audience like myself. It definitely helped me understand inter-relations between environmental issues and social, economic, political conditions.

Interesting BUT Repetitive ****
The book gives you a good explanation and goes into several factors why a society could and does collapse. It explains these factors by analyzing past cultures which have already collapse or were on the verge of collapse. The only down fall (some may not see it that way) is that after several chapters, you become very familiar with the factor which contribute to a collapse of a society, that the rest of the book becomes more of a historical book (many of the cultures he looked at, I had already studied and had background knowledge on them which made the end of the book less interesting for me. Known the less, this is a fantastic book which is worth reading. Kevin H

Interesting BUT Repetitive ****

The book gives you a good explanation and goes into several factors why a society could and does collapse. It explains these factors by analyzing past cultures which have already collapse or were on the verge of collapse.

The only down fall (some may not see it that way) is that after several chapters, you become very familiar with the factor which contribute to a collapse of a society, that the rest of the book becomes more of a historical book (many of the cultures he looked at, I had already studied and had background knowledge on them which made the end of the book less interesting for me. Known the less, this is a fantastic book which is worth reading.

Kevin H

Fantastic Tours of Changing Environments, but leaves out the Middle East *****
"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 which suffered environmental collapse in the past like Yucatan or Greenland, then 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.

Fantastic Tours of Changing Environments, but leaves out the Middle East *****

"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 which suffered environmental collapse in the past like Yucatan or Greenland, then 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.

My 100-word book review *****
Collapse is a thoroughly researched and fascinating book offering reasons why civilisations have failed in the past. The Mayans, Easter Islanders and Greenland Norse each encountered complex problems that eventually became catastrophic. Jared Diamond offers no simplistic explanation but describes a number of causes, such as climate change, geography and psychological flaws, which can reinforce one another and lead to disaster. The author does not take an overly pro-environmental stance, recognising that industry has a vital role to play in protecting our world. He provides a salutary lesson from history that current and future generations would do well to heed.

My 100-word book review *****

Collapse is a thoroughly researched and fascinating book offering reasons why civilisations have failed in the past. The Mayans, Easter Islanders and Greenland Norse each encountered complex problems that eventually became catastrophic. Jared Diamond offers no simplistic explanation but describes a number of causes, such as climate change, geography and psychological flaws, which can reinforce one another and lead to disaster. The author does not take an overly pro-environmental stance, recognising that industry has a vital role to play in protecting our world. He provides a salutary lesson from history that current and future generations would do well to heed.

Fifteen Years. *****
It was Jared Diamond's answer to the last question of a presentation of "Collapse" at Frankfurt University's Museum of Natural Sciences. Given the comparative shortness of human existence in our planet's entire history, what does it matter, someone asked, "if in 20,000 years or so we do exterminate ourselves, and another species takes over. It's happened to the dinosaurs and the mammoths ... why should we be any different?" My own thoughts had run along similar lines earlier that evening: surrounded by skeletons of species extinct for 100,000s of years, I had recalled a recent visit to a historic museum chronicling social development in a part of Germany -- and I, too, had reflected on the rocket speed that had brought us from the Stone Age to the 21st century, and I had wondered, "what if?" Yet, even knowing the book presented that evening and its author, his answer came as a clarion call. "I don't think we have another 20,000 years," Jared Diamond said in his impeccable German and with the same unassuming, polite composure with which he had answered all preceding questions. And he added: "I think it's closer to fifteen years." Fifteen -- not fifteen thousand or even just fifteen hundred. In the grand scheme of cosmological development, that's less than a millisecond. And this is precisely why "Collapse" is so important. For much more than exploring select past societies' failures (primarily those of pre-European Easter Island, the Anasazi, Maya and Vikings), which it contrasts with select success stories (New Guinea, Japan), it actually asks what we, living today, have to learn from the past in order to avoid the fatal mistakes of those unable to secure their own survival; a question highlighted even by the book's very first chapter, which examines no past society at all but modern-day Montana: serene, sparesly-populated, big-skied, mountain-river-and-valley-graced Montana, which both geographically and figuratively seems leagues away from the problems associated with modern metropoles like New York and Los Angeles (or isolated Polynesian Easter Island, for that matter), and whose social, political and ecological landscape is nevertheless every bit as fragile as theirs. Indeed, for us today the issue is no longer a mere matter of one society's (or species's) extinction in favor of another. For us, Jared Diamond emphasizes, the issue is that of our planet's survival as such. In this, our situation actually does very much resemble that of the Easter Island's inhabitants, who had nowhere to go after depriving themselves of their natural resources by reckless logging and their island's resulting desertification, and who were ultimately driven into cannibalism. Like their island to them, our earth to us is the only inhabitable world ... in our own solar system (tried to settle on Mars or Venus lately?) and probably also beyond: for all we know, those far-away galaxies of "Star Trek," "Star Wars" and Discworld belong to the world of science fiction only; "fiction" being the operative word. Bearing this in mind, the subtitle of "Collapse" is as important, and even more telling than the book's title itself: "How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." It indicates that: (1) failure, even under adverse conditions, is not a necessity; and (2) whether (or how well) a society survives depends crucially on its values and goals, and the choices resulting therefrom, both collectively and individually. And of all the factors that Jared Diamond highlights as impacting a society's survival -- environmental changes, changes and conflicts of interest within that society, changes in neighboring societies and in the two societies' relationships, technological advances, and the inability, unwillingness or other failure to anticipate or acknowledge the impact of choices made -- it seems to me that this last point, the question how we play the hand we've dealt ourselves by our past and present choices, will ultimately prove decisive. The author himself likes to say he is "cautiously optimistic" in this regard, pointing to his eighteen-year-old twins, who have practically their entire life yet to live. I hope, however, that his answer will also prove justified by the growing respect he enjoys in public opinion and with national and international decisionmakers. So does he have all the answers? No -- and he himself would probably be the first to emphasize that he actually has more questions than answers (only coming from him, it wouldn't sound like a cliche). Is "Collapse" argued less stringently than, say, his Pulitzer-Prize-winning "Guns, Germs and Steel"? Personally I don't think so, but I'm admittedly biased. What's the use of "popular science writing" anyway -- why doesn't he, like any other good scientist, seek peer review and a discussion with his colleagues? Well, I believe that he does enjoy a spirited scientific debate and welcomes comments that force him to put his own theories to the test. Yet, it only takes one look at the broad space that pseudo-arguments like those he refutes as "one-line objections" at the end of "Collapse" still occupy in the public debate ("The environment must be balanced against the economy," "Technology will save us," "This is just another end-of-the-world-prophecy like the many that have already proved false in the past," "Environmental concerns are a first-world luxury," and of course the ubiquitous, "Why shoud I care anyway?") to realize this book's necessity. This is also why I have decided to set aside my reluctance to review any of his books; although personal acquaintance and unconditional respect render me patently incapable of objectivity, and a review like this might be construed as an exercise in flaunting an association with an internationally renowned scientist and award-winning author (even worse, one occasioned not by any achievement of my own but by mere coincidence). But "Collapse" concerns us all -- it's as simple as that. In signing my copy, Jared referenced the aforementioned never close, but long-lasting acquaintance: "to 2005 ---." Both on a personal and a global level, I hope those three dashes stand for much, much more than fifteen years.

Fifteen Years. *****

It was Jared Diamond's answer to the last question of a presentation of "Collapse" at Frankfurt University's Museum of Natural Sciences. Given the comparative shortness of human existence in our planet's entire history, what does it matter, someone asked, "if in 20,000 years or so we do exterminate ourselves, and another species takes over. It's happened to the dinosaurs and the mammoths ... why should we be any different?" My own thoughts had run along similar lines earlier that evening: surrounded by skeletons of species extinct for 100,000s of years, I had recalled a recent visit to a historic museum chronicling social development in a part of Germany -- and I, too, had reflected on the rocket speed that had brought us from the Stone Age to the 21st century, and I had wondered, "what if?"

Yet, even knowing the book presented that evening and its author, his answer came as a clarion call. "I don't think we have another 20,000 years," Jared Diamond said in his impeccable German and with the same unassuming, polite composure with which he had answered all preceding questions. And he added: "I think it's closer to fifteen years."

Fifteen -- not fifteen thousand or even just fifteen hundred. In the grand scheme of cosmological development, that's less than a millisecond.

And this is precisely why "Collapse" is so important. For much more than exploring select past societies' failures (primarily those of pre-European Easter Island, the Anasazi, Maya and Vikings), which it contrasts with select success stories (New Guinea, Japan), it actually asks what we, living today, have to learn from the past in order to avoid the fatal mistakes of those unable to secure their own survival; a question highlighted even by the book's very first chapter, which examines no past society at all but modern-day Montana: serene, sparesly-populated, big-skied, mountain-river-and-valley-graced Montana, which both geographically and figuratively seems leagues away from the problems associated with modern metropoles like New York and Los Angeles (or isolated Polynesian Easter Island, for that matter), and whose social, political and ecological landscape is nevertheless every bit as fragile as theirs. Indeed, for us today the issue is no longer a mere matter of one society's (or species's) extinction in favor of another. For us, Jared Diamond emphasizes, the issue is that of our planet's survival as such. In this, our situation actually does very much resemble that of the Easter Island's inhabitants, who had nowhere to go after depriving themselves of their natural resources by reckless logging and their island's resulting desertification, and who were ultimately driven into cannibalism. Like their island to them, our earth to us is the only inhabitable world ... in our own solar system (tried to settle on Mars or Venus lately?) and probably also beyond: for all we know, those far-away galaxies of "Star Trek," "Star Wars" and Discworld belong to the world of science fiction only; "fiction" being the operative word.

Bearing this in mind, the subtitle of "Collapse" is as important, and even more telling than the book's title itself: "How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." It indicates that: (1) failure, even under adverse conditions, is not a necessity; and (2) whether (or how well) a society survives depends crucially on its values and goals, and the choices resulting therefrom, both collectively and individually. And of all the factors that Jared Diamond highlights as impacting a society's survival -- environmental changes, changes and conflicts of interest within that society, changes in neighboring societies and in the two societies' relationships, technological advances, and the inability, unwillingness or other failure to anticipate or acknowledge the impact of choices made -- it seems to me that this last point, the question how we play the hand we've dealt ourselves by our past and present choices, will ultimately prove decisive. The author himself likes to say he is "cautiously optimistic" in this regard, pointing to his eighteen-year-old twins, who have practically their entire life yet to live. I hope, however, that his answer will also prove justified by the growing respect he enjoys in public opinion and with national and international decisionmakers.

So does he have all the answers? No -- and he himself would probably be the first to emphasize that he actually has more questions than answers (only coming from him, it wouldn't sound like a cliche). Is "Collapse" argued less stringently than, say, his Pulitzer-Prize-winning "Guns, Germs and Steel"? Personally I don't think so, but I'm admittedly biased. What's the use of "popular science writing" anyway -- why doesn't he, like any other good scientist, seek peer review and a discussion with his colleagues? Well, I believe that he does enjoy a spirited scientific debate and welcomes comments that force him to put his own theories to the test. Yet, it only takes one look at the broad space that pseudo-arguments like those he refutes as "one-line objections" at the end of "Collapse" still occupy in the public debate ("The environment must be balanced against the economy," "Technology will save us," "This is just another end-of-the-world-prophecy like the many that have already proved false in the past," "Environmental concerns are a first-world luxury," and of course the ubiquitous, "Why shoud I care anyway?") to realize this book's necessity. This is also why I have decided to set aside my reluctance to review any of his books; although personal acquaintance and unconditional respect render me patently incapable of objectivity, and a review like this might be construed as an exercise in flaunting an association with an internationally renowned scientist and award-winning author (even worse, one occasioned not by any achievement of my own but by mere coincidence). But "Collapse" concerns us all -- it's as simple as that.

In signing my copy, Jared referenced the aforementioned never close, but long-lasting acquaintance: "to 2005 ---." Both on a personal and a global level, I hope those three dashes stand for much, much more than fifteen years.