(Listopia) Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed -Jared Diamond -3.5 Stars

[Jason]

Listopia

This was a great companion piece to The Sixth Extension but not as easy of a read. After The Sixth Extension showed how humans are having a horrible effect on plants and animals, leading to a sixth extension, Diamond goes through past and present societies, outlines how they have fail (most examples) or have succeeded (a few examples) following a 5 point framework of:

Human impacts on the environment
Climate Change
Friendly neighbors leaving
Hostile neighbors coming
Societies reaction

The societies hes discusses are:
Montana,
Easter Island and other Polynesian islands in the pacific
Anasazi
Mayian
Viking
Rwanda
Dominican Republic vs Haiti
China
Australia
And in the updated version, Angkor.

Then he discusses where is the world headed now and is there hope. What are the challenges to overcome and is it possible to overcome them , leading Diamond to admit he is a cautious optimist.

I learned so much reading this book about ancient and modern societies, logging, mining, farming and other practices, economics, and plant and animal wildlife. My view of how and why people and/or companies damage the earth has changed. How I view the earth has changed. How I view large companies has changed.

I took away some stars because numerous arguments are made over and over and over and over and over again throughout the book. Those 5 frameworks are discussed for each society and multiple times within that society. The book also reads more as an essay most of the time. Sometimes I enjoyed reading from a well traveled and experienced expert in this field, and at other times I wanted to say, "I believe you, just give me the condensed version."

But most of all, I loved the book because he does not give absolute, single answers to the problems or the solutions, but admits they are complex issues intertwined in a tangle of many problems and issues that are not easy to agree upon or fix, but he is able to show this tangle in a logical and factual way.

[Anita]

I've never read Diamond, but he seems to be very highly regarded. Your review definitely gives me a good sense of what this one is about, and I do like that you say he approaches the subject with balance and subtlety. That's important to me when reading non-fiction where one might be lead to "take a stand."

But The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History sounds like more fun to read.

[Jason]

Anita wrote: "I've never read Diamond, but he seems to be very highly regarded. Your review definitely gives me a good sense of what this one is about, and I do like that you say he approaches the subject with b..."

The Sixth Extinction is a more fun read overall but what I liked is how closely associated the books are but also so different. They compliment each other well by exploring different questions of the same topic.

The Sixth Extinction asks the questions, Is there an epidemic of species going extinct. Why are species going extinct? Do humans face the possibility of going extinct? Does historical evidence help any at all in regards to these questions?

Collapse asks the questions, Why do some societies fail and other succeed? Are the outcomes deterministic? Are these examples relevant to today's societies? Is our current way of life, not just locally but globally, sustainable? If not, is it fixable?

So they discuss two different topics but they largely overlap. Ones discusses our species and the other our way of life.

My favorite part though, was learning about all the different societies, both of the present and the past and also Diamond's theories on the impact of first world vs third world countries.