Samantha 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.

Samantha Guns Germs and Steel was published in 1997. The discovery of the oldest pottery in the world in China was in 2012. It's hardly fair to hold Jared Diam…moreGuns Germs and Steel was published in 1997. The discovery of the oldest pottery in the world in China was in 2012. It's hardly fair to hold Jared Diamond accountable for something that wasn't known when his book was published. Also, as someone else has stated, pottery is not really an important element of his argument. I'm not certain how you pulled that particular fact to check but it doesn't invalidate the book, which definitely changed the way I think about the world.

And yes, they are not about the same thing. Saying one is about how a development gap came about and the other is about how there isn't really a development gap is inaccurate. Certainly Factfulness compares societies - in one chart, the author compares Sweden in different years to other countries, so that at the year of his birth, Sweden was about at the same level of development as Egypt is now. This is an excellent reminder for readers in the Western world that our current standard of living is very recent. I actually think the books complement each other.(less)

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