Bonus Book - Guns, Germs, and Steel

My first introduction to Guns, Germs and Steel was in French immersion grade 8 social studies. We were supposed to study the Aztecs, but because we spent the whole year on Japan our entire "Aztec" lesson was watching the National Geographic adaptation (in English). The book and the film ignore the Aztecs completely and focus on the Incas.

I got this as an audiobook from the Edmonton Public Library, one of many very popular books that I had to put on hold months ago and am only now starting to receive. I loved it. It's a nonfiction book primarily about prehistory and its effect on history. That is to say, why is it that I live on indigenous lands, my ancestors having come here, colonized the land, and killed the inhabitants with war or disease? Why are the Cree not living in Yorkshire, having sailed to, conquered, and colonized that land instead? Importantly, this question does not have to be European focused. The same question (and author Jared Diamond would argue, the same answer) could be posed about the Austrolasian expansion, or why Khoisan people were pushed out by black Africans during the Bantu expansion and not the other way around.

It's important to note the complaints this question can elicit. Obviously, determining the cause of an event never justifies the event. Some people seem to believe that because certain events led to Europeans having gunpowder that surely justifies Europeans using gunpowder, and critics will assume that everyone making the first argument necessarily believes the second. Both the dual believers and the critics are deluded. As Diamond critically points out, the tacit assumption of many people who don't invest the time to address this question is that the people must be the main difference. Here's where this book is an important academic example the contradict this narrative.

Alas, I can't sit here and summarize the entire book for you, and you wouldn't want me to. Suffice it to say that the classic roles of agriculture, writing, technology and the lot play a large role. The reason the book has made such a large influence though is the role it claims for geography. Key issues, like whether your continent has a primarily east-west axis or a primarily north-south axis seem to play a large role. Along the way you learn very interesting things about plant and animal domestication, the quaternary extinction, and more.

Anyway, great book. 5/5 would recommend.