Collapse

How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

De: Jared Diamond

Narrado por: Christopher Murney

In his million-copy best seller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond examined how and why Western civilizations developed the technologies and immunities that allowed them to dominate much of the world. Now in this brilliant companion volume, Diamond probes the other side of the equation: what caused some of the great civilizations of the past to collapse into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates?

As in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond weaves an all-encompassing global thesis through a series of fascinating historical-cultural narratives. Moving from the Polynesian cultures on Easter Island to the flourishing American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya and finally to the doomed Viking colony on Greenland, Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe. Environmental damage, climate change, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of these societies, but other societies found solutions and persisted. Similar problems face us today and have already brought disaster to Rwanda and Haiti, even as China and Australia are trying to cope in innovative ways. Despite our own society's apparently inexhaustible wealth and unrivaled political power, ominous warning signs have begun to emerge even in ecologically robust areas like Montana.

Brilliant, illuminating, and immensely absorbing, Collapse is destined to take its place as one of the essential books of our time, raising the urgent question: how can our world best avoid committing ecological suicide?

©2004 Jared Diamond (P)2004 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A thought-provoking book." (Booklist)
"An enthralling, and disturbing, reminder of the indissoluble links that bind humans to nature." (Publishers Weekly)

For us all

Riveting, scary, hopeful worldview. Insightful investigations into histories/mysteries of Easter Island, Greenland?ground up and top down perspectives.

The Best Book I Ever Hated To Hear!

I read Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" and love his great economy with words and his ability to synthesize and summarize extensive, complicated subjects into a work that is understandable and interesting.

Jared accomplishes a similar task in "Collapse." I found myself looking forward to long walks in the park because I would be able to listen attentively to the audio book while I exercised.

I found the content alarming on many levels. But the information contained in "Collapse" is something that anybody who wants to claim to be a responsible citizen needs to hear.

"Collapse" is the best book I ever hated to hear.

It's so profound that I bought the hardcover too!

Mr. Diamond weaves history and human nature together to give us a vision of what will happen to our society and how we can affect it.

I found his evidence compelling enough that I'm re-thinking many of my long held positions. When a book causes me to ponder like that, I consider it an excellent investment.

Great Book

A well-researched and eye-opening book that I think makes fair arguments and puts forth a bold hypothesis. Something of revisionist history but all grounded in facts. A strong book about environmental impact and how people and culture think generally and never see the catastrophe coming. Pertinent and would be interesting even if one does not believe in global warming. The opening about Montana was devastating to that state. I'd have thought he had a vendetta against Montana, but again, it was all just plain researched facts about their economy and how the state is run. It has been awhile so I do not remember every chapter, but I know it touched on the Mayans and I remember finding the Easter Island chapter a highlight. The book is well-narrated though the actor's voice is so deep and unique it takes some getting used to. The type of voice used on 15 second promos for bloody made-for-TV dramas is maybe not the best for a longer work, but he does a good job and eventually anything is normal, even an ice cold swimming pool, you know?

He does it again!!!

Every American should read this book. I think it could spark great debate, no matter which side of the issue you are on. That is what this country needs, good old fashioned debate on what we want our country to stand for, where we should head and how to get there. This is not a political book but a survival guide for future minded civilizations and societies.

If you want to pick up or listen to a book that says everything is rosy, fiction, then this might not be your book. If you want a great research book on why societies have not lasted and what might be some of the lessons, this is definitely your book. "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it", this at a time when the schools are getting rid of history classes to make the grade in other subjects.

Guns, Germs and Steel is his previous book and is an awesome read also.

fascinating but oh so depressing

The first half to 2/3's of the book is great and interesting, but the last is depressing because the alternatives are so bleak, and well, how many ways can you say that over and over and over.

A Careful Treatment of a Complex Issue

Any additional comments?

In _Collapse_, Jared Diamond thoughtfully and respectfully examines the complex interplay of factors that lead to a society's success or failure. Although it reads like a college textbook at times, and some of the material could have been edited out with no loss of clarity, it certainly is a fascinating survey of various cultures and an illuminating guide to a complex set of issues facing all of humanity.

Excellent

Brings very interesting ideas to how the world has been shaped. He cleary explains how the experiences and problems of past socities are directly related to today.

Collapse

Approximately 1/3 of the way through this book it's impressive. Diamond has a gift for storytelling and an understanding of this thesis that makes this book well worth absorbing. He deftly weaves the story of modern Montanna into his studies of the past.

An analysis of a complex topic

This (audio)book is a detailed analysis of why societies succeed or fail. It has an environmental slant to it since throughout much of human history societies were tied intimately to their immediate surroundings through agriculture. Not surprisingly, a topic as complex as societal collapse can't be boiled down to "Collapse for Dummies"---a lot of evidence needs to be described and analyzed, and a set of multiple causative factors explained. This makes the book very involved, which is nice, because most popular science books are fluffy and boring.

I'm astounded by reviewers who complain that he only presents societies that failed (he presents several that succeeded); that he claims that environmental causes are the main factor in collapse (he does not claim this---in fact, he says specifically that he is not saying that!); that he is an enviro-apocalyptic (he does not claim we are doomed); or that he is simply spewing some sort of liberal mantra of envrionmentalism. I figure that reviewers who claim such things have neither read nor listened to the book.

I think that this particular book is one where the abridgement is actually a good thing; Diamond has the academic's habit of presenting the outline of an argument that he will give you eventually, presenting the argument, then presenting a presentation of the argument, then presenting a summary of the presentation of the argument. The abridgement is good because it cuts out at least two steps here.

The narrator is fine, and sounds somewhat similar to the author.