Collapse How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Revised Edition

The World Until Yesterday provides a mesmerizing firsthand picture of the human past as it had been for millions of yearsand#151;a past that has mostly vanishedand#151;and considers what the differences between that past and our present mean for our lives today.

This is Jared Diamondand#8217;s most personal book to date, as he draws extensively from his decades of field work in the Pacific islands, as well as evidence from Inuit, Amazonian Indians, Kalahari San people, and others. Diamond doesnand#8217;t romanticize traditional societiesand#151;after all, we are shocked by some of their practicesand#151;but he finds that their solutions to universal human problems such as child rearing, elder care, dispute resolution, risk, and physical fitness have much to teach us. A characteristically provocative, enlightening, and entertaining book, The World Until Yesterday will be essential and delightful reading.

and#160;

--Minneapolis Star Tribune

and#8220;The World Until Yesterday [is] a fascinating and valuable look at what the rest of us have to learn from and#8211; and perhaps offer to and#8211; our more traditional kin.and#8221;

--Christian Science Monitor

and#8220;Ambitious and erudite, drawing on Diamond's seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of fields such as anthropology, sociology, linguistics, physiology, nutrition and evolutionary biology. Diamond is a Renaissance man, a serious scholar and an audacious generalist, with a gift for synthesizing data and theories.and#8221;

--The Chicago Tribune

and#8220;The World Until Yesterday is another eye-opening and completely enchanting book by one of our major intellectual forces, as a writer, a thinker, a scientist, a human being. It's a rare treasure, both as an illuminating personal memoir and an engrossing look into the heart of traditional societies and the timely lessons they can offer us. Its unique spell is irresistible.and#8221;

--Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper's Wife

and#8220;As always, Diamond manages to combine a daring breadth of scope, rigorous technical detail and personal anecdotes that are often quite moving.and#8221;

--The Cleveland Plain Dealer

and#160; and#8220;Diamondand#8217;s investigation of a selection of traditional societies, and within them a selection of how they contend with various issues[and#8230;]is leisurely but not complacent, informed but not claiming omniscience[and#8230;]A symphonic yet unromantic portrait of traditional societies and the often stirring lessons they offer.and#8221;--Kirkus, Starred Review

and#8220;This is the most personal of Diamond's books, a natural follow-up to his brilliant Guns, Germs, and Steel.and#160; Diamond has very extensive and long-term field experience with New Guineans, and stories of these admirable people enrich his overview of how all human beings acted until very recently.and#160; Not only are his accounts fascinating, they will ring true to all who have experience with hunter-gatherer cultures.and#160; And they carry many lessons for modern societies as well on everything from child-rearing to general health.and#160; The World Until Yesterday is a triumph.and#8221;

--Paul R. Ehrlich, author of Human Natures.

and#8220;In this fascinating book, Diamond brings fresh perspective to historic and contemporary ways of life with an eye toward those that are likely to enhance our future.and#8221;and#8212;Booklist

and#8220;Lyrical and harrowing, this survey of traditional societies reveals the surprising truth that modern life is a mere snippet in the long narrative of human endeavor[and#8230;]This book provides a lifetime of distilled experience but offers no simple lessons.and#8221;and#8212;Publishers Weekly

and#8220;Jared Diamond has done it again. Surveying a great range of anthropological literature and integrating it with vivid accounts of a lifetime of visitsand#8212;sometimes harrowing, more often exhilaratingand#8212;to highland New Guinea, he holds up a needed mirror to our culture and civilization. The reflection is not always flattering, but it is always worth looking at with an honest, intelligent eye. Diamond does that and more.and#8221;

--Melvin Konner, author of The Tangled Wing and The Evolution of Childhood

and#8220;An incredible insightful journey into the knowledge and experiences of peoples in traditional societies. Diamondand#8217;s literary adventure reflects on the problems of today in light of his exhaustive literature review and 40 plus years of living with rural New Guinean peoples.and#8221;

--Barry Hewlett, author of Intimate Fathersand#160; (with Michael Lamb)

and#8220;In the 19th century Charles Darwin's trilogyand#8212;On the Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals changed forever our understanding of our nature and our history. A century from now scholars will make a similar assessment of Jared Diamond's trilogy: Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, and now The World Until Yesterday, his magnificent concluding opus on not only our nature and our history, but our destiny as a species. Jared Diamond is the Charles Darwin of our generation, and The World Until Yesterday is an epoch-changing work that offers us hope through real-life solutions to our most pressing problems.and#8221;

--Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, author of The Believing Brain and Why Darwin Matters

aDiamondas most influential gift may be his ability to write about geopolitical and environmental systems in ways that donat just educate and provoke, but entertain.a aThe Seattle Times

aExtremely persuasive . . . replete with fascinating stories, a treasure trove of historical anecdotes and] haunting statistics.a aThe Boston Globe

aExtraordinary in erudition and originality, compelling in its] ability to relate the digitized pandemonium of the present to the hushed agrarian sunrises of the far past.a aThe New York Times Book Review

Environmental damage, climate change, globalization, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of societies around the world, but some found solutions and persisted. As in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe, and weaves an all-encompassing global thesis through a series of fascinating historical-cultural narratives. Collapse moves from the Polynesian cultures on Easter Island to the flourishing American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya and finally to the doomed Viking colony on Greenland. Similar problems face us today and have already brought disaster to Rwanda and Haiti, even as China and Australia are trying to cope in innovative ways. Despite our own society’s apparently inexhaustible wealth and unrivaled political power, ominous warning signs have begun to emerge even in ecologically robust areas like Montana.

Brilliant, illuminating, and immensely absorbing, Collapse is destined to take its place as one of the essential books of our time, raising the urgent question: How can our world best avoid committing ecological suicide?

Environmental damage, climate change, globalization, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of societies around the world, but some found solutions and persisted. As in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe, and weaves an all-encompassing global thesis through a series of fascinating historical-cultural narratives. Collapse moves from the Polynesian cultures on Easter Island to the flourishing American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya and finally to the doomed Viking colony on Greenland. Similar problems face us today and have already brought disaster to Rwanda and Haiti, even as China and Australia are trying to cope in innovative ways. Despite our own societyandrsquo;s apparently inexhaustible wealth and unrivaled political power, ominous warning signs have begun to emerge even in ecologically robust areas like Montana.

Brilliant, illuminating, and immensely absorbing, Collapse is destined to take its place as one of the essential books of our time, raising the urgent question: How can our world best avoid committing ecological suicide?

The World Until Yesterday provides a mesmerizing firsthand picture of the human past as it had been for millions of yearsand#151;a past that has mostly vanishedand#151;and considers what the differences between that past and our present mean for our lives today.

This is Jared Diamondand#8217;s most personal book to date, as he draws extensively from his decades of field work in the Pacific islands, as well as evidence from Inuit, Amazonian Indians, Kalahari San people, and others. Diamond doesnand#8217;t romanticize traditional societiesand#151;after all, we are shocked by some of their practicesand#151;but he finds that their solutions to universal human problems such as child rearing, elder care, dispute resolution, risk, and physical fitness have much to teach us. A characteristically provocative, enlightening, and entertaining book, The World Until Yesterday will be essential and delightful reading.

and#160;