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Collapse - Jared Diamond

21 years ago

This book happened to be the first pick of my book-club....quite an interesting way to start off a book-club :)!

We just had our second meeting yesterday and although most of us didnt finish the book...we had an excellent discussion.

Has anyone read this book yet? Any thoughts or comments?

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Comments (4)

georgia_peach
21 years ago
I haven't read this yet, but it's on my wish list. I'm waiting for it to come out in paperback, though, so it will be a while before I get to it.

I've read Diamond's Gun, Germs, and Steel and The Third Chimpanzee and would recommend those, esp GGaS, which is a bit of a reverse look at what Collapse explores. GGaS is about why certain societies succeeded while others did not. I'd be interested in knowing what you thought of it when you are done.

I don't know if Diamond is still a contributor to Natural History magazine, but he used to have frequent articles in that magazine that I've always enjoyed reading.
solstice98
19 years ago
I just finished Collapse and was intrigued by it. Didn't particularly like the style, which was a bit too much like a formal lecture, but the information was fascinating.

The information seems well researched. The conclusions are solid although there's room for interpretation, of course. I find myself much more aware of environmental and leadership issues since I read it. Kind of like being idealistic and 18 years old again! It's easy to be outraged by actions and conditions in the world but at age 50+ it's harder to turn outrage into action. Many years of cynicism are hard to put aside but "if not now, when?"
You've got to love a book that generates this much thought!
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Vee, thanks for the link to the woman speaking Welsh. Mary, I listened to the woman in the video and detected the back-of-the-throat gutturals similar to the German (e.g. the /ch/ of Bach) and Scottish (e.g. /ch/ of loch). Those sounds are probably difficult for English speakers over the age of about fifteen to produce. Those under fifteen, unless they have a speech disability, shouldn't have many/any problems. I didn't notice much 'R' rolling from this particular speaker, a feature of pronunciation (such as in Scottish and Spanish) that many (adult) English speakers can't reproduce and have a tendency to disparage because of it. Many Americans, interestingly to me, don't have problems 'rolling Rs' but, of course, some Americans can barely pronounce 'R' at all. The double letters and the sounds they represent are interesting. English speakers, of course, wind up in most cases just pronouncing them as single sounds, such as giving the Ll of Welsh the sound of English L. The Welsh start with the tongue in the position to say L but barely get the sound initiated when they switch to the guttural sound of /ch/ (as in loch). Now that's a feat! It's the perfect shibboleth for the Welsh, isn't it, Vee? Instead of persisting in saying 'Welsh', I should be referring to the language as 'Cymraeg'. From the etymology of the word 'Welsh', it's a wonder the people of Cymru put up with the unflattering derivation.
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woodnymph2_gw
19 years ago
I read a portion of it and found the thesis fascinating, but was put off by the author's style, which I found quite redundant. I wish the message could be got out to more people, somehow....
rosefolly
19 years ago
I found the book fascinating. The pictures of the various cultures and how they collapsed or survived were vivid and to my mind, exciting. The conclusion the author came to was that we are in an even worse mess than most people realize or acknowledge, but that there is real hope we can make it through, provided that we deal effectively with our problems.

Rosefolly

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