Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond

If there's one good thing about a long commute, it's having plenty of time to listen to audiobooks. When it comes to nonfiction texts, like Guns, Germs, and Steel, I often find my mind wandering as I turn the pages. Thus, the audiobook option for this chunk of a book was perfect. 

Diamond is possibly one of the most methodical writers I've encountered. He lays out the book, chapters, and paragraphs as if he's charting a conquest himself. Not only does he tell you what he will be discussing in the coming pages, but summarizes what he has discussed a the end...such a teacher. 

This epic journey through time and the rise and fall of peoples around the world is spurred by a friend in New Guinea wondering why his people are behind Westerners. Diamond speculates that these people are actually more intelligent that the average Westerner. He uses this as his reference point throughout the book. The main areas of focus are the domestication of food and animals, the diffusion of information, the migration of people, and the variation in population numbers, location, and mindset. 

I'm not a huge history buff, so a lot of the information was new to me. A few standouts:

• The theory that Eurasia developed faster than the Americas, because the continent is longer East  to West rather than North to South. Therefore, since more land is along the same latitude, the knowledge of how to domesticate crops and animals spread faster. 
• A number of people adopted and then abandoned certain tools, weapons, and modes of transportation. This was interesting, given the current state of the world where everyone is always looking for the next best thing. Also, it made me think of the Amish.
• Most diseases that wiped out massive amounts of people originated from people living in such close proximity to livestock and their own filth. Europeans were among the first to domesticate animals and live sedentary lives. A lot of them died, the ones that survived were immune, and those same diseases wiped out people without the immunity. 

Long story short, the people that are the best off in the world came by it due to circumstance, not because they are smarter.