Analysis Of Guns, Germs And Steel By Jared Diamond

According to Jared Diamond, “‘History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples’ environments, not because of differences among people themselves’” (25). Throughout his novel, Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond traveled 13,000 years into the past in order to masterfully explain the history of the world. Questions such as, “How did the world become so unequal?” and “What factors contributed to the development of the world?” are answered through the means of guns, germs, and steel. Jared Diamond’s main purpose for writing this book was in response to a simple, yet difficult question introduced by Yali, a local politician from New Guinea. On page 14 Yali asks, “‘Why is it that you white people developed

This information, along with his prior education and knowledge, served as a huge backbone while developing and supporting his thesis. During his trip to New Guinea, Diamond was able to learn the New Guineans way of life and survival techniques. He experienced how they hunted and gathered food, made shelter, and evolved over time. This cultural experience provided Diamond with a completely different understanding of the world than the one he previously knew. Aside from these personal experiences and knowledge, Diamond also relied on historical and scientific evidence. For example, scientific evidence was used to explain the evolution of germs, diseases, viruses, and immunity to such things. On the other hand, historical evidence was used to explain the history of guns, domestication of animals, and evolution of civilizations and communities. Along with this evidence, Diamond also used many secondary sources such as photographs, charts, and maps. These were provided by other authors, photographers, and museums, as credited in the book. These sources not only provided a much more fascinating outlook, but an extremely compelling statement. The map illustrating the origins of food production on page 99 and the table describing the different types of societies on page 268 made the information much easier to understand. While most of these sources

Without the endless valuable information and crucial details, many facts concerning the world’s history would be lost. However, I found the book to be slightly poorly written and unnecessarily confusing at points. An excessive amount of the book was very difficult to read, and even more so, hard to comprehend. As a whole, this book was very helpful in terms of the information that was provided, and the personal touches definitely made it more interesting, despite the fact that as a whole it was very dull. In general, I would recommend this book due to the fact that it was very educational and persuasive. It not only provided an abundant amount of information, but gave the reader a different understanding of the history of the world. Throughout the book, Diamond never failed to prove a point and, of course, answer the captivating question that will forever remain stuck in Diamond’s mind. Nonetheless, I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for an amusing or entertaining selection, seeing as they would lose interest very