Keith Swenson answers “Those who have read both books: should I...”

Thanh Nguyen-Kim asked this question about Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think:

Those who have read both books: should I read Guns, Germs and Steel? As GG&S tries to give explanation of how different countries end up having development gap. While Factfulness tries to convince people of how little the gap exists. P/S: GG&S failed when I did fact check, the oldest pottery was found in China, not South America.

Keith Swenson I read both, they are different books. Factfulness is a good summary about the current status of the world, and gives you a framework to understand th…moreI read both, they are different books. Factfulness is a good summary about the current status of the world, and gives you a framework to understand that current state. It is not about trying to convince people that a gap does not exist, but shows that most people's understanding of the gap is many decades out of date -- and that harms efforts to help.

GG&S is a brilliant book that explains the structural reasons that certain historical trends happened in certain places. This gives you a lens on history develop, but not so much about why there is a gap, but why certain geographies were more condusive to to cultural grows at different levels of technology.

You will find GG&S enormously helpful in understanding history. I don't remember the age of pottery being an important part of his main point and this fact check seems unimportant. I would not be surprised a few errors like that might be in any book, but I don't think it would detract from the main message.

You must read both.(less)

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