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Collapse (2005) (edit title/settings)

How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

by Jared Diamond (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

In his runaway bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond brilliantly examined the circumstances that allowed Western civilizations to dominate much of the world. Now he probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to fall into ruin,... read more

Summary edit see section history

This is a book about the reasons why some societies collapse and others don't!
Diamond explores the pivotal role of environmental factors in determining the success and longevity of a society. He explores the different societies' strategies for surviving in their particular environment,... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

This is a book about the reasons why some societies collapse and others don't!
Diamond explores the pivotal role of environmental factors in determining the success and longevity of a society. He explores the different societies' strategies for surviving in their particular environment, and how their grasp of sustainable interaction with their environment determines their success. Juxtaposing ancient and modern societies, as well as outlier cases of surviving in environmentally challenging regions, he illustrates how vital it is to work harmoniously with the resources and how badly things go wrong when exploitation disturbs the natural balance.

I'm only writing this to satisfy the extortionate profile requirements for export! Shame on you Shelfari! (Ditto - extended the summary for the same reason - why the strict profile requirements to access the export function?)

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First Sentence edit see section history

A few summers ago I visited two dairy farms, Huls Farm and Gardar Farm, which despite being located thousands of miles apart were still remarkably similar in their strengths and vulnerabilities.

Table of Contents edit see section history

List of Maps

Prologue: A Tale of Two Farms

PART ONE: MODERN MONTANA
1. Under Montana's Big Sky

PART TWO: PAST SOCIETIES
2. Twilight at Easter
3. The Last People Alive: Pitcairn and Henderson Islands
4. The Ancient Ones: The Anasazi and Their Neighbors
5. The Maya Collapses
6. The Viking Prelude and Fugues
7. Norse Greenland's Flowering
8. Norse Greenland's End
9. Opposite Paths to Success

PART THREE: MODERN SOCIETIES
10. Malthus in Africa: Rwanda's Genocide
11. One Island, Two Peoples, Two Histories: The Dominican Republic and Haiti
12. China, Lurching Giant
13. "Mining" Australia

PART FOUR: PRACTICAL LESSONS
14. Why Do some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions?
15. Big Businesses and the Environment: Different Conditions, Different Outcomes
16. The World as a Polder: What Does It All Mean to Us Today?

Acknowledgments
Further Readings
Index
Illustration Credits

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Jared Diamond (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Viking Penguin
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2005
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 575

Classification edit see section history

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

  • Collapse Reader's Guide: The Penguin Group posted an introduction, an interview with Jared Diamond, and some discussion questions about the book together in a "Reader's Guide."

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  • Questioning Collapse

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  • Finding Beauty in a Broken World
  • What Is Environmental History?

Books Cited by This Book edit see section history

   

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