Very interesting non fiction book about how ecological and economic globalization had unforeseen consequences in the 500 years. Many very interesting stories and facts about South America, China, and North America and how the introduction of Europeans and the swapping of plants and animals had profound impacts across the world. Also interesting were the discussions of economic consequences of seemingly minor issues; one whole chapter talks about the early lack of understanding of inflation led to situations where Chine was forced to move from paper currency to a silver standard (echos a lot of "let's go back to the gold standard" calls in American politics today,) and how that led to China basically being in the control of Spain since Spain controlled the silver mines in South America.

The book is a bit long, but I feel as if I learned more from this book than any book I had read in a long time.