Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

I had read this back when it came out. There have been many that contradicted the argument since then. However, the general research and arguments are still quite convincing. He argues that factors in the natural environment play a big role in the development of cultures. When there is a large connected region across similar climates, the agricultural knowledge can easily be shared. When there are barriers in between, sharing is a much slower process. Some areas had many plants and animals that were ready for domestication, while other places did not. There was one example from polynesia where one culture advanced significantly beyond another after a period of separation. Through history cultures that were more advanced were able to dominate those that were not.

The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?

The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? by Jared Diamond

Traditional societies are not a panacea of everything good. If that were the truth, they would not so readily adopt western lifestyles when given the chance. However, they are not all bad. There are many parts of traditional society that have readily observable benefits, while others that we may not recognize now. The author primarily spent time in New Guinea, but also observes other societies. 

Traditional societies tend to be more built towards small groups. This results in a "legal system" that encourages people to come up with solutions that will allow them to continue on living together.(Alas, the "solutions" are more likely to involve death in more challenging cases.) Interactions with other groups can also be challenging. People expect everywhere to be "claimed" by some group, and a need to appropriately negotiate for usage.

Health and eating habits are different in these societies. Spending a day without food is not uncommon as is feasting later. Out bodies seem to be well adapted for this. Alas, modern society has continued with the feast part, but without the fasting. This his lead to obesity and diabetes and other diseases. We also tend to be much more sedentary. Add to this the ready availability of sugars and processed food, and we see widespread health problems in the west spreading. The New Guinea highlanders that move into the cities are likely to become obese and disease ridden.

Other areas that we may be missing are languages. In places like the New Guinea highlands, groups a few miles away may be isolated and speak totally different languages. People would need to learn multiple languages to be able to communicate. Now single languages are spread far and wide. On an individual level, there are benefits to learning new languages (possibly even staving off Alzheimer's.) For society, we loose greatly with each language extinction.

Child rearing is quite different in hunter-gatherer societies. Birthing practices may differ from society to society. Mothers typically nurse on demand. This typically leads to natural birth control, with babies about 4 years apart. (It is difficult to care for multiple babies when constantly moving.) Children typically sleep together with their family. There is not much privacy. Even sex may be observed by others. Elders are highly respected. They often have knowledge that others don't have that may be useful at a future day. 

Traditional societies have their challenges. They are more likely to be killed by wild animals or by starvation. Infant mortality is lower. Mothers are more likely to die during childbirth. Babies that cannot be cared for may be abandoned. Life expectancy is low. Conflicts may be solved by battles and death. Food variety is limited. 

The world of the hunter-gatherer is not easy. However, our western lifestyle is perhaps too easy and isolated. Did we throw too much out on the quest to modernity?

Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis

First the bad: Upheaval is an academic book pitched at a popular audience. The narrative can be very long and detailed for a popular book. (But at the same time lacking in details for an academic book.) The audiobook narration further emphasizes the dryness. The author from the outset states that it is not a comprehensive analysis, but just a focused view of case studies of modern upheaval in a few countries that he is familiar with.
With the bad out of the way, the book has a nice story to tell. Countries and people got through periods of significant "stress". Sometimes this comes from the outside. Other times it is purely internal. It may happen in response to a single event, or it may be something that happens gradually over time. Using a "crisis framework", he analyzes the different ways that they react.
Finland shares a very long border with Russia and has a language and culture very different from the Russian and Scandinavian neighbors. When attacked by Russia, Finland did not give in, but fought back against overwhelming odds. This allowed them to remain independent (even as other Baltic States were subsumed by Russia.) After the war, Russia demanded reparations and trials of Finnish leaders for "war crimes". Finland acknowledged their week position relative to Russia and complied. (By charging the leaders with war crimes, they were also able to dictate the "punishment") The reparations paid to Russia were a sacrifice that benefited the country by forcing industrialization. Finland was further able to maintain good relations with Russia and western Europe by self censoring. They willingly sacrificed some democratic principals in order to maintain freedom and democracy. This seemed an anathema to many in the west, but it served Finland quite well.
Other countries did not have such a positive experience. Chile was one of the most stable democracies in South America. However, democratically elected Allende moved too far to the left for his military, thus setting the position for a coup and the rise of Pinochet. He stayed in power longer than expected and killed a large number of leftests. However, he still allowed for a peaceful transition, even though only a narrow majority voted to not extend his term. The new government allowed for Chile for all Chileans and kept many of Pinochet's positive reforms. The country had to go through the challenging experience to realize that compromise is the best policy.
Similarly Indonesia found itself ripe for a dictator after the leader became too involved with external affairs at the expense of internal needs. Unlike Finland, Indonesia had very little national identity, and needed to foster one. Corruption was a big problem and needed to be reined in.
Australia had a national identity tied up in England. Despite being in a totally different part of the world, Australians thought of themselves as British. Only after the fall of Singapore in World War II, did Australia realize they had to depend on themselves more. They gradually moved away from the "white Australia" to a more cosmopolitan, independent country. (They there was a shock of policy changes that were carried out at the start of one government.)
Japan had change thrust upon them. After Perry sailed in, Japan was no longer isolated. The leaders realized they could not compete with the western powers, so they spent time trying to learn what they could from them. They picked and chose to adopt the best policies. They realistically knew what they were capable of. However, by World War 2, they had built up a significant military and the new "young guns" lacked they global insight of their elders. Thus, they went on a multi-front war that would be difficult to win, and ended up being defeated. Today, Japan still has some trouble with introspection. History courses treat Japan as a "victim" in World War 2 (due to the nuclear bombs) without regarding that they were the aggressor. This has lead to weaknesses in relationships with its neighbors. (Germany, on the other hand, has apologized profusely and done much to prevent the Nazi past from resurfacing.) Japan also faces on oncoming demographic crisis with a very low birth rates and almost no immigration.
Countries and individuals got through many crises in their lifetime. Being honest in the approach to them can be the difference between a positive growth experience and a long struggle.

The Third Chimpanzee

Jared Diamond wrote some fascinating books such as Guns, Germs and Steel. Third Chimpanzee, alas, was written earlier in his career and is not quite up to the quality of later books.

He states his purpose is to help prevent man from causing his own extinction. However, he goes about it by trying to convince us that man is the "third chimpanzee". Alas, there is not a whole lot the two have in common. Sure, humans may share a lot in common with apes, but does this make them more or less likely to destroy their planet? The start of the book rambles on and on about primate reproductive behaviors. Then it spends time on other societal behaviors. There are some interesting parts, but they are carried out much better in Diamond's later book. This one feels like the "rough draft" where all the ideas were thrown down on paper. The later books have a more coherent thesis that goes to the point. Read Collapse Skip Third Chimpanzee.