Started: 8/30/2013
Completed: 9/13/2013
Recommendation:Highly recommended
Recommended By: My Father
Review:
First, know that this book is very dry. There are plenty of statistics and the book is peppered with unpronounceable tribes, words, and a slew of concepts (particularly, "kleptocrat") that are overwhelming. Despite the approachable title, this is a work that is remarkably detailed and full of "evidence" far more comforting in a technical work then in a book for the masses. Having said that, WOW!
The author covers about 13,000 years in his analysis, he covers every continent, and he covers vast swathes of humanity. While there is an unquestionable love of New Guinea, the author does his best to prevent his personal bias from overshadowing his research. Kudos to him on this effort, it is my firm belief that he has successfully done so.
The argument put forth is that human development is extremely strongly effected by geography (and, hence, environment). Intuitively this makes sense: nobody would expect Eskimos to invent wheat farming. If the climate is not appropriate, then farming is effectively out of the question. OK, so, who cares? Well, it turns out that it is only with farming that societies (on any scale) have enough time to think about inventing stuff and to develop teeming heaps of people among whom might be great inventors. OK, so, who cares? Well, without new technology society remains basically a subsistence exercise and the size of societies constrained by what can be easily gathered. It also turns out that the hunter/gathering life style inhibits birth rate (basically, you have to wait until one child can walk long distances before having another) which results in less population. Even if you look at invention as a game of chance (a million monkeys at a keyboard writing Shakespeare is a worst case scenario) the more people you have trying to get stuff done, the more likely that one will happen on some inventive solution. This is even more true if the person isn't starving, tired from walking, or spending all his time trying to get food.
The author also explains that people basically find strangers threatening. It seems to be a basic human action to kill a stranger. Various societies (of all kinds) have found ways to prevent outright slaughter, but it turns out that hunter/gatherers are among the most likely to go around killing each other. So, the switch not only supports and encourages a higher birth rate, but murders tend to go down among the farmers (they still wipe out hunter/gatherers).
The book is boring. Take the time to read it. Read it slowly and think about the arguments. It is well worth the effort.
The author covers about 13,000 years in his analysis, he covers every continent, and he covers vast swathes of humanity. While there is an unquestionable love of New Guinea, the author does his best to prevent his personal bias from overshadowing his research. Kudos to him on this effort, it is my firm belief that he has successfully done so.
The argument put forth is that human development is extremely strongly effected by geography (and, hence, environment). Intuitively this makes sense: nobody would expect Eskimos to invent wheat farming. If the climate is not appropriate, then farming is effectively out of the question. OK, so, who cares? Well, it turns out that it is only with farming that societies (on any scale) have enough time to think about inventing stuff and to develop teeming heaps of people among whom might be great inventors. OK, so, who cares? Well, without new technology society remains basically a subsistence exercise and the size of societies constrained by what can be easily gathered. It also turns out that the hunter/gathering life style inhibits birth rate (basically, you have to wait until one child can walk long distances before having another) which results in less population. Even if you look at invention as a game of chance (a million monkeys at a keyboard writing Shakespeare is a worst case scenario) the more people you have trying to get stuff done, the more likely that one will happen on some inventive solution. This is even more true if the person isn't starving, tired from walking, or spending all his time trying to get food.
The author also explains that people basically find strangers threatening. It seems to be a basic human action to kill a stranger. Various societies (of all kinds) have found ways to prevent outright slaughter, but it turns out that hunter/gatherers are among the most likely to go around killing each other. So, the switch not only supports and encourages a higher birth rate, but murders tend to go down among the farmers (they still wipe out hunter/gatherers).
The book is boring. Take the time to read it. Read it slowly and think about the arguments. It is well worth the effort.
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