Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, a book report

Some books you finish reading with a sense of relief, as if you had endured a hardship. There are others you complete with a sense of satisfaction. I finished Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond last week saying to myself, “Wow. Now there’s a lot to think about.” My attention was fully vested from the opening segment.

Ever wonder when and where humanity got underway? When and how it spread from one continent to the next? This book closes those loops. It’s very interesting looking at the map showing humanity’s flow from one continent to another. [A couple quick facts to provide a bit of mental kindling: humanity started in Africa about 7,000,000 BC, moved into Asia in 1,000,000 BC, Europe 500,000 BC, Australia 40,000 BC, North America 12,000 BC, and South America 10,000 BC.]

Ever wonder why or how people on a specific continent seem to enjoy a bountiful existence while people on another continent reside along the opposite extreme? It’s not biology or the capacity of a certain group of people that is on display in the quality of their existence. Rather it’s the environment that is, by far, the predominant factor in fueling the quality of a people’s existence.

When humanity arrived on a continent it was the large animals (those that average 100 pounds or more) present on the continent that played a large role in shaping this environment. Some large animals can be domesticated while others cannot. Eurasia, for example, had 72 varieties of large animals indigenous to the continent of which 13 were eventually domesticated. South America, on the other hand, had 24 large animals of which only 1 became domesticated, the alpaca. There’s a big difference on human society if you’ve only got the alpaca to work with as opposed to cattle, horses, pigs, and goats. Then there’s Australia who had only one such indigenous animal, the kangaroo. Even if the guy could have been domesticated, what’re you gonna do with a kangaroo? Implement it to sow crops? One can see how the animals available played a significant role in shaping the local human existence.

The plants indigenous to a continent also played a significant role. The plants that were present to be domesticated and farmed greatly affected a people’s ability to improve their food possibilities. They could largely determine whether a group of people would be hunters-gatherers or farmers. An abundance of human-friendly plants made population booms possible as societies evolved from hunting-gathering to farming because farming was able to support a larger number of people per acre.

Have you ever pondered the significant results of human improvement? Pottery, for example, was first used about 12,000 BC. This spurned a population boom as people were now able to cook plants and make food more easily consumable. Plants that were too tough to chew became easier to eat. Older generations were able to live longer now that proper nourishment was available, whether or not they had teeth. This elongated life span allowed them to pass on a lifetime’s worth of knowledge to the younger generation. Plants which may have previously been inedible, due to toxins or poisons, could now be soaked and leeched of the toxins or poisons such as in the case of nuts.

If those discussion points are of interest to you, this book may spark up an entertaining sequence of brain synapses. Fascinating, the trail of events that shaped humanity and accompanying explanations.


Thanks for the recommendation, JMac.
-klem