Josh Garner (joshgarner) reviewed on 1/9/2019 + 4 more book reviews

Although a far worse attempt could have been made, the book's central thesis of environmental essentialism is a mistaken one. Diamond makes a compelling argument for the importance of environmental factors in determining human history, but takes that truth and stretches it to false heights, to the point of making incorrect and bizarre statements, such as the "fact" that zebras cannot be trained and domesticated (they can) and that a contributing factor to China's decline was the fact that the Chinese coastline is not convoluted enough for dissidents to hide in.

Again, not a terrible book, but unfortunately in trying to make a case for the importance of surroundings (which it does), it started making incorrect claims.

A good counter to this book is Wade's "A Troublesome Inheritance" (ISBN 9780143127161).

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