The fates of human societies

This book ‘Guns, Germs, and Steel’ authored by Jared Diamond is about the evolution of human societies during pre-historic times. It won Pulitzer award for him in 1998.

In this book, author examines the factors which shaped the evolution of early societies like farming, domestication of animals and development of communication skills including writing etc. The societies which acquired these skills had a distinctive advantage over others which lacked them. The farming power gave the ability to prepare for a war without a need to hunt for food every day. And the writing skills helped pass on the knowledge to future generations. The societies which had no clue of these skills during the same time could not compete with the ones possessing them and lost land and lives. Darwin simply put it as ‘Survival of the fittest’ but Jared explains it to us in detail. His other book ‘Collapse’,  is a book with a reversal theme, about what made strong societies like Mayans disappear.

While fiction readers may find this book heavy, non-fiction readers loved it and made it a best seller in its time.

Guns, Germs & Steel - The Fates of Human Societies