Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive

This book is an interesting read covering a large amount of historical societies. Unfortunately, the two societies covered the most extensively were to me the least interesting. Still worth reading in hopes of learning from past mistakes.

If one has no familiarity with why societies collapse, this is a "must read." The author identifies five central causasional factors, not all of which apply in every instance, nor appy equally when all are present. Depending on the instance, some do not apply at all. In painstaking detail, a number of past (now disappeared) societies are analyzed, then several modern (still extant) societies. One cannot help thinking about one's own society -- that of the United States -- while reading this book. But of course, more than ever today, all current organized societies are inextricably part of one grand global society. That situation exponentially increases the influences of the factors causing collapse of any one or all of the globally linked groups/countries. This is a book that will leave the reader with a clear paradigm for use in examining current health and life of existing cultures, so that more sense can be made of the socio-political-economic world in which we live.

Collapse, How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond is a real eye opener. Diamond is not a rabid conservationist or ecologist. Instead he presents a well researched book showing how some societies have succeeded and how others have failed. You can draw your own conclusions from that. I must admit that the book had a profound effect on me. I have always been an amateur conservationist in that I prefer a clean environment to a dirty one but, after reading Collapse, I now realize that it is not solely a question of beautiful vs. ugly but one of survival for all of us.

An amazing book. The historical chapters are extraordinary. It loses a star because the 10 year old chapters about Australia and China are no longer relevant, and the chapter about Montana is uninteresting because it could be written about anywhere these days.

Mr. Diamond makes a studied case for each example given of Societies that fail. His books can be a challenge to absorb and it is worth the effort. This is a great follow on th Guns, Germs and Steel about how "modern" societies had their start. Is a bit like going to school, thank goodness you have a good and engaging instructor.

Diamond has a good handle on his subject matter (as per usual) but goes on a bit much for me. Does a great job of balancing environmental causes with the human need to exist and profit (at least, feels fairly even-handed to me), but just goes on a bit long, especially re: Greenland and the Vikings, an area where - perplexingly enough - there's really not all that much data, if Diamond is to be believed.

Still, a good point and a rather worrying one overall!

Jared Diamond, as in "Guns, Germs, and Steel has a tendency toward repetition in order to make his case. Even so, the material presented about causes of societal collapse are interesting and extremely relevant in this time of climate denial.

Fast shipping, excellent condition and great value!! I purchased this book for a Topics in Sciences class as part of undergrad Business program. It is a great book for anyone interested in how the past can be an indicator of the future. It is a powerful study on what happens when societies squander resources, ignore signals that the environment gives us (global warming) and how other human behaviors such as war, poor business practice and mining effect the environment. It also touches on what some societies have done right. Great book for anyone interested in or getting into "Green" Business!!

There was a lot of good information in this book...I learned a great deal about how and why many previous cultures failed or succeeded. He spent too much time, in my opinion, trying to connect the dots with global warming. He did cover several topics I had not read before and he is an interesting writer. I think most people would enjoy it.

I had higher hopes for this book after reading Guns, Germs and Steel. But it was more difficult for me to really get into the book. His basic assumption is any society that extracts natural resources faster than a sustainable rate will vanish unless they comes to grips with the problem and modify their behaviour so they become sustainable. I would have thought he would have touched on other issues but the environment is the single focus of the book. While there is a lot of truth to what he says I thought the book would discuss other reasons that societies collapse as the environment is not the only reason an economy or society will collapse.

Clearly, Dr. Diamond is unusually qualified to write such a book, given his unusually diverse set of relevant experiences, acquaintances, and prodigious general knowledge. However, in some sections, the writing was too repetitive, verbose or tedious. There's no question there's a wealth of info included. However, sometimes more guesswork is involved than the reader would like, when it comes to analyzing the details of why certain ancient societies collapsed or gradually declined. I realize that is often the best we can do in such cases. I especially liked the discussions of the environmental problems of Australia and Iceland. Both these are said to have largely fragile ecosystems, but for mostly different reasons. The discussion of both involves current whole nations, but beginning at their discovery by Europeans. Both were essentially virgin territories, as far as agricultural exploitation is concerned, thus we can clearly see the results of European management. The same can be said in the case of Greenland. In habitats marginal for agriculture, sometimes variations in the natural environment become the tipping factor.
As he states, he tried to pick examples where natural environmental degradation appears to have been a major, if not sole, ultimate causative factor. A current clear example of such(not in this book, of course) is Syria, where an extended drought has been important in precipitating the current political chaos. Sudan and Somalia offer additional such examples. Of course, we are much more likely to see clearly environmental ultimate causes in small isolated 'primitive' societies recently introduced to a fragile uninhabited ecosystem, than in
huge long established industrialized societies. This is Diamond's rational fir including several such supposed examples. This is not to say that the latter cannot suffer a similar fate, as Diamond periodically hints.
Diamond correctly states that he wrote this book from a middle-of- the- road perspective, as relates to seemingly conflicting environmental and economic concerns in the present world. He details his very unexpected experiences with a Chevron oil and gas project in Papua New Guinea, where the company has seemingly gone overboard in safety and environmental concerns, so that the leased area seemed to have more wildlife than official National Parks in that nation!. He also spends considerable space detaining the resource utilization problems of Montana, thus trying to make the book seem directly relevant to Americans.
For a more focused, concise, discussion of the historical long term detrimental effects of most past agricultural practices and deforestation, I suggest "Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations", for example.
As a side note, from what I have read, the eventual end of economically exploitable rock phosphate reserves will likely be the trigger for the permanent contraction of the world human population, if something else doesn't decimate us first. Phosphate is lost via leaching, soil erosion and crop removal, and has no known substitute. No clue how many decades or centuries it might take to reach this state, as we seem to be able to periodically come up with tricks to put off predicted famines. Retrieval of phosphates from oceans, except via growth of ocean life would seem impractical.

Fascinating! I just received this book last week and have already finished it. It was a very well written book, easy to follow, and quite enjoyable. I highly recommend it.

It reminded me of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States in that I gained so much information (that I didn't know before), in a unique and intriguing format.

As entertainment this was an ok read, though the book did tend to drone on at times and he repeated himself frequently (as if stretching it for word count?). The last few chapters wandered away from facts and more towards opinion, and some of those opinions have been discounted since the book was written.

I expected more from Jared Diamond than a long, redundant review of a largely uncontentious thesis. Those who enjoyed the fascinating and alternative insights contained in "Guns, Germs and Steel" will be disappointed with this book. On that note, those who have delighted in Diamond's accessible writing style will be equally disappointed, as I found this book to be little more than a long exposition of facts surrounding various environmentally-driven societal collapses. In other words, it's dense and boring. With the completion of every chapter -- each one reviewing a different instance of historical or modern collapse -- I felt that I had gained very little knowledge beyond what I had learned from the book's introductory section. There are just way too many examples. If you truly want to read this book, I would recommend reading that first chapter and the last chapter -- then, if you're still hungry for more, dive in. But be warned, this book is dry.

I absolutely loved GGS and highly respect Dr. Diamond as a professor, a writer, and a scientist. However, this book failed to thrill me in the way GGS did. Its wandering, highly anecdotal and verbally confounding chapters left out more detail than they were intended to include and lose the reader in twisted rhetoric and "smart" sounding verbage that really, to the trained scientific eye, is incredibly frustrating and tedious. Dr. Diamond picked some of the most fascinating societies to explore, and gives the reader an intro to each, but I think with some revisions and editing to his journal-like writing style, at least twice as much information could have been included, much in the way GGS was incredible dense, but equally informative. I hate to say it, but I really was at times bored with this book, and wish I hadn't bought it new. GGS remains on my top shelf, where I can access it almost daily, but this one I have a feeling will end up as either kindling or a gift to a less critical friend...

I just finished reading this beautifully written, clear exposition of the state of the world's environment. We are in serious trouble, folks, and anyone who denies this is simply not facing reality, or prefers not to. This is no extremist text; it's well-balanced, praising of those companies, such as Chevron, which go all out to protect the environment in their own self-interest as well as of the world's. I would hardly call this book an aimless meander around the globe searching for arguments, as one reviewer implied, or a plea to stop anything productive or fun as another stated, absurdly in my opinion. Instead, it gives a detailed picture in clear language of the collapse of a variety of historic and present-day societies, as well as some of the dramatic successes, and applies the lessons to the present predicament we find ourselves in. Great analyses! A real eye-opener for me. Also, many references for further reading and research. We're all in this together and we have to work together to avoid a future planetary collapse. It's as "simple" as that.

Jared Diamond delivers again after 'Guns Germs and Steel'. it is not a page-turner like Guns Germs and Steel but has very elaborate descriptions and examples of how societies form and how they collapse.
His projections for some states, regions in the US and the world are chilling to say the least.

Jared Diamond here continues the fine work he began with The Third Chimpanzee and Guns, Germs, and Steel. In Collapse, he examines the reasons why some societies have failed while others have succeeded, sometimes against all the odds. Once again he uses environmental and geographical determinism to look at the histories of these societies, and comes up with fascinating new theories to explain their rise and demise. I was particularly interested in the sections dealing with present day Montana and China, as they indicate so many potential and actual problems (as well as some good news) that face our world.

I also found the segments on the Norse colonies in Greenland, Iceland, and elsewhere fascinating in the way Diamond analyzes the reasons for their successes and failures. The segments on Easter Island and other Pacific islands also make intriguing reading as they demonstrate the connections between environmental and economic activity. In fact, one of the chief pleasures of Collapse is Diamond's ability to relate human events like the Rwanda-Burundi genocide to environmental factors.

There will be many who will disagree with Diamond's thesis and with his list of suggested adjustments and improvements to the world ecological/environmental balance, but everyone will agree that Collapse is an important and stimulating achievement.

Collapse - 4-1/2 stars. Excellent but not as fine as "Guns, Germs, and Steel."

I find the 1-star reviews of this book very interesting. They basically just say, Diamond is full of s**t, Diamond is a light-weight, Diamond is racist, Diamond is politically correct, Diamond piles it higher and deeper, Diamond knows nothing about what he is writing about. I'd take their reviews more seriously if they could actually argue with Diamond's proposition. If they could provide an alternate conclusion. I can just see it: "Carelessly consuming your resources and destroying your environment will lead to a long-lived, stable, and prosperous society." Yeah, that's it!

Please have a look at the data:

1. World population change. Please see these data (ah, yes, the store won't let me include a link. Please go to Google and search on "world population statistics" click on the second link which is the US Census Bureau, World Population 1950 to 2050; but it actually goes way back.) It has multiple estimates of world population though time. Put these data into your spreadsheet. Plot the data. Look carefully at the curve - it's the plot of an explosion. I guarantee you that something will cut off that curve. I don't know exactly how or when; but it will happen. (war?, pandemic?, famine?, a combination? It won't be pretty.)

2. Change in petroleum reserves

3. Change in fossil fuels consumption

4. Change in arable land area

5. Change in forest area (globally, not just in the northeastern US)

6. Change in ocean temperatures

7. Change in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere

Project these trends forward. Does this look sustainable to you?

The critics of Diamond would like you to believe that we can continue business as usual, consuming energy, exterminating species, eroding arable land, clearing forests, growing our population, forever. Does this make any sense to you? There are good reasons for this: greed and laziness. They make a lot of money off the current system and change hurts. Just keep driving that lumbering SUV. Keep watching TV and playing video games. Go shopping! It'll all be just fine, forever, no effort is needed from us ... Tax breaks to the wealthy and eliminating the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act will fix all these trends.

If you want your kids and grandkids to have decent lives, I recommend change. I do not recommend whistling past the graveyard. You can think, "but it won't happen during my lifetime." Maybe. It's the same attitude that approves of deficit spending for tax breaks for the extremely wealthy. A little short-sighted, maybe?

We have had a 100-year vacation from reality by burning petroleum. The petroleum isn't going to last beyond a couple more generations. And converting all that bound-up carbon into gaseous CO2 is going to have dramatic and unpredictable results.

Great book, great argument, great author. Read it! It's not perfect, of course. It's not perfectly predictive. But Diamond presents a strong case and the data are on his side. You don't need ancient data, just look at current trends.

Clear and informative for the layperson. This is likely a useful explanation for the more academically inclined, but Dr. Diamond is not a very entertaining story teller. There is also a fair amount of repetition in the narration that seems unnecessary.

This should be required reading for politicians. It is a bit depressing but a clear picture of the disasters facing us unless we take action on climate change, population control and the dangers of fossils fuels, deforestation and mining. I plan to write a synopsis to circulate to friends to encourage them to read it and take action. If you have kids or grandkids you need to read this.

Look no further! Everyone who cares about the future of the world economy, and the prospects for our planet in general, should read this book. Though it discusses complex issues, it offers really enjoyable reading if that is what you're looking for. I once saw one passenger reading it on a plane, it was a long-distance flight, and I found the title very appealing (probably because I come from a country that did not have an easy life). Though it was nearly 4 years ago, I remembered the title and bought the book only now. I received a revised edition which gives an insight into what happened after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. Enjoy and use the ideas!

Years ago, Diamond wrote an essay on the origins of agriculture titled: The Worst Mistake In The History Of The Human Race. In a nutshell, Diamond said: "Recent discoveries suggest that the adoption of agriculture, supposedly our most decisive step toward a better life, was in many ways a catastrophe from which we have never recovered. With agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism that curse our existence."

Collapse is not a critique of agriculture and civilization. Collapse is a book that explores why some societies collapse, and others survive. It takes a less radical stance, in an attempt to communicate with a more mainstream audience. Hence, in this examination Iceland is rated as a success, because it has survived for 1,000 years -- despite the fact that its modern industrial-consumer mode of living is absolutely unsustainable. Chevron is praised for being a tree-hugging oil company. And so on. Collapse gets a bit fishy in places, but overall it's solid and fair.

Diamond is a geography professor at UCLA. He has given many lectures on the Easter Island story. His students always have a difficult time grasping the image of natives cutting down the last tree on the island. "That's simply not possible -- people aren't that stupid!"

Well, unfortunately, yes we are, is Diamond's conclusion in Collapse. He shows us societies that collapsed because of problems that were known and correctable. In order to survive, societies need to pay attention to the ecosystem around them, take problems seriously, respond to them intelligently, and -- very importantly -- don't let dysfunctional cultural values take you down. Let go of obsolete beliefs before they destroy you.

Ultimately, responsibility for society's survival is in the hands of individuals. Diamond isn't an advocate for externalizing -- sitting around whining about naughty corporations and politicians. When the people get uppity, and demand change, change happens. This is one of history's most important and obvious messages.

Diamond concludes the book with the obligatory pronouncement of hope for the future. Yes, we are more aware than previous generations. Yes, we have a tremendous number of opportunities for improvement. Yes, we could really improve our prospects for the future, if we chose to pursue this. Well, miraculous change is fine with me, and if it happens, I'll eat my cynicism.

I liked the book. It addresses an uncomfortable subject that has been taboo from polite conversation for far too long. The clear message is that we should not feel safe and secure because we live in the most "advanced" society in human history, where legions of angelic experts are protecting us. We are in danger, and big trouble is not too far away. I agree. But we are not without options.

Richard Adrian Reese
Author of What Is Sustainable

Jarred Diamond creates a very workable framework within which to discuss a variety of situations that are linked by the very human responses to the existing conditions. I found certain parts a bit repetitive, but other sections were fascinating and informative.

This book is one of the most scholarly and carefully researched books ever published. It condenses data that would take many people many lifetimes to discover and understand. I urge everyone to read this book. It is a bit dry at times. It would be more fun to read a novel. If a catastrophe will take decades to play out, for many it is more pleasant to be ignorant than to be responsible, aware, and working on a solution.

The point of this book is that when societies allow population to grow to the edge of food production capacity in good times, there will be a disaster in bad times. It seems simple, but most societies have no ability to control over procreation. It is said to be a personal matter. Such societies just let nature do it for them the hard way.

The new world has provided some escape from this vicious cycle for a few hundred years by providing a place for the excess populations of the world to find refuge and continue expanding.

When the new world is full, the stage will be set for the biggest disaster of them all, because the whole world is now dependent on far flung food production linked by a fragile and energy intensive distribution system with only a few weeks of reserve at the extremities.

This book is a warning that most people will ignore and and as a consequence many of our grandchildren or great grandchildren are likely to starve as a consequence. It will be those unfortunate enough to live at the extremities of the distribution system. I hope that enough responsible people read this book to make a difference in our many converging societies.

Excellent reading. I had read Guns, Germs and Steel and expected Collapse to be another scholarly work pulling together the work of researchers from different disciplines. A must for anyone studying the current effects of climate change around the world today.

I was greatly impressed by Diamond's research on this topic. He has done thorough and exhausting research on many societal and country collapses. To me two stand out: The cutting of trees to extinction on Easter Island (Chapter 2, Twilight at Easter) and the contrast in Chapter 11 between The Dominican Republic and Haiti. If anyone doubts that Haiti would be in much better position to recover economically from the recent earthquake if they had not practically obliterated their forests, I believe they would lose their doubts and help fund the few NGO's now struggling with reforestation projects in Haiti.

Guns, Germs, and Steel discussed the rise of civilization and now Collapse speaks too soon of its possible demise.

Jared Diamond is a brilliant thinker and writer. He paints, with broad strokes, "the big picture". Both books are lengthy. In Collapse, his second volume of the set, he draws his story to a close by listing the problems we now face.

That's correct, after reading a thousand pages we are left with a list of problems and a glimmer of hope.

Perhaps the next book will focus on solutions. We want answers!

A very enlightening book and very *thoroughly* recommended. In some ways, more interesting than Guns, Germs and Steel. why not 5 stars? Some threads repeat too much (as if the author did not read the final draft); and -- as a Central European reader -- the fact that the two or three references to Central European matters are borderline incorrect factually makes you worry that the discussion of the lesser-known societies may include some corner-cutting too.

Diamond weaves a fascinating, if somewhat disjointed, tapestry of archaeological and historical tales of societies which notably succumbed or succeeded in dealing with fundamental challenges of survival. There is a loose structure to the project which Diamond lays out at the beginning, but in fact the stories are more compelling than the analysis, especially the analysis that would tie the tales together to form a coherent theory of societal success or "collapse."

Not being highly versed in archaeology, one might have to take a great deal on faith that Diamond asserts about preliterate societies, or those that left a very sparse historical record. The evidence Diamond marshals is often not entirely convincing and one has the sense that he is pressing the data of others to fit his theses.

So, while fascinating, his lengthy discussions of archaeological examples, are not as interesting or persuasive in terms of his overall thesis as are more well documented cases for which there is ample historical record. Yet this is precisely where his analysis seems rather thin in dealing with very complex historical factors. The "proximate" cause, to use his term, of societal "collapse" (more accurately I would say "crisis" or "degradation") may often appear to be environmental or resource issues, but in fact in any complex, and especially modern society it is far more about culture in the broadest context. Diamond discusses this latter phenomenon as one item of his multi-factor analysis under the rubric of "decision-making processes." He acknowledges, and ultimately focuses squarely on, societal structure and responsibility as crucial to, and the efficient cause of, societal survival.

Socio-economic, political and cultural studies are not Diamond's primary area of expertise, so it is not surprising that his book does not emphasize the dynamics of those factors. I agree with other reviewers that the title of the book is thus inaccurate (it would be rather harsh to say "deceptive") in its subtitle "HOW SOCIETIES CHOOSE to Fail or Succeed." A better subtitle would be "How Environmental and Resource Constraints Influence the Way in which Societies Succeed or Fail." But then I am not a book publisher or author, and such a subtitle would be less impressive than the one Diamond has chosen.

Nevertheless, what Diamond has produced here is a compelling compendium of archaeological, historical, and scientific information that does persuade the reader that only a foolish bird fouls its own nest. Moreover, the nest IS being fouled, the materials and sites for other nests are becoming increasingly scarce; nor will restless and disgruntled members of our flock leave our nest in peace.

We bought this book secondhand, and it came in good condition.
Really, really interesting book to read, a book you do not want to put down, it held us both in it's spell to the very end.
One of our most borrowed books in our library!!

On page 521 of this book, Diamond describes himself as "a cautious optimist." The book is, in fact, quite upbeat, in spite of the dismal implications of the title. The various negative reviewers who have gone before me have obviously not read the book. It neither blames environmental destruction alone, nor resorts to the hysterical rhetoric of some environmentalists, nor does it trash industry. In fact, there is a whole chapter, and several other long passages, on successful environmental initiatives by industries of all types.

He could have given the book a more accurate and less shocking title. OK, "Collapse" sells copies, but the book is more about environmental problems, solutions and successes than outright collapses. And it doesn't deal with the great collapses--the Roman Empire, for instance.

Diamond considers several societies of the past that did themselves in by overusing their environments AND--critically important--by failing to get together and do something about it. In some cases they just failed to control the situation, but in some the problem was that a society that was densely populated, and in delicate balance with its environment, was undone by dramatic climate change--most obviously when increasingly serious drought from 900 to 1300 did in the Anasazi and the central lowland Maya. Warfare had a share in this, with increasing stress possibly increasing the warfare.

Equally interesting are the success stories that Diamond tells. These more or less match the failures. Easter Island failed, but the similar island of Tikopia (another tiny Polynesian island) did fine in managing resources. The Maya failed, but Japan succeeded. Greenland's Norse colony failed, Iceland's made it through. Partly, this was a factor of environmental differences, but human succeess at getting everyone to work together was obviously the really important factor.

Finally, Diamond discusses some modern cases where environmental overuse clearly contributed to civil meltdown. He is careful not to say it was "the cause," however. Bad government seems to be the cause of both the environmental mismanagement and the civil problems. Once people are desperate, from poverty and want as well as from oppression and tyranny, they do desperate things.

I have a good deal of expertise in this area, and I found virtually no mistakes in this book. (One of note: The Maya did not collapse so thoroughly as he thinks. Many people and several marginal areas survived just fine. But the collapse was real, and his take on it is sensible and informed.) The book is also refreshingly free of biological reductionism; Diamond is fully aware that most of these are complex cases and that environmental mismanagement alone is rarely to blame. Some of his previous writings were full of naive biological reductionism and gratuitous trashing of indigenous people. He has clearly listened to, and learned from, criticism. He deploys, to advantage, many arguments that were deployed against some of his earlier work! I really respect anyone who can learn from criticism rather than merely getting defensive.

My one serious criticism, and one that makes me much less optimistic than Diamond, is that Diamond does not deal with the degree to which hatred and conflict lead to environmental destruction. It is very hard to get people to work together. They'd rather fight. Worst of all, and the most frequent cause of environmental mismanagement, is a situation where powerful special interests whip up strife deliberately, as a divide-and-conquer or divide-and-rule strategy. This is terrifyingly visible in the United States, and elsewhere, today. Judging from the world mess today, if humanity puts itself out of business through environmental suicide--which is indeed quite likely--the major cause will be politicians' exploitation of religious extremism.

Interesting read. Applying the theories and examples Diamond shows in this book into the modern world provides a startling anxiety for the modern US. As always, Diamond gives you a well-written and well-researched product.

The first half of this book is very interesting and well worth the read. It convincingly describes the collapse of several ancient, and not-so-ancient, societies. I'm not sure why he provides an extended discussion of problems in Montana and how that relates to his central thesis of the book, but it is interesting. I'm also concerned, as are some other reviewers, about the lack of discussion of societies that faded away rather than collapsed, like the Greeks and Romans. The author attempts to apply principles from the collapses of these ancient societies to portend what the future holds for us, but it is not convincing. We live in a global society, and it's difficult to see how the collapse of these isolated societies is relevant to today.

The main problem I have with the book is that it focuses almost exclusively on physical and environmental limitations and almost completely neglects institutional constraints. The corruption of third world governments and misguided policies of first world countries, it seems to me, are significant problems. For example, one could argue that the primary problem is overpopulation, and that cheap, available birth control could rapidly reduce population growth, but policies espoused by the US are directly contradictory to that. How can we hope to solve the most fundamental environmental problem when we can't even agree that it's a problem? The author says that he is cautiously optimistic about the future, but that conclusion does not flow from the evidence presented. He argues that population and economic growth place unsustainable demands on the resource base, but doesn't say how he expects these pressures to decline to a point at which they are sustainable. I think he's optimistic because if his conclusions were drawn from the evidence he presents, he would be branded as just another alarmist, and the book would not be taken seriously.

The author paints a bleak picture of China, arguing that rapid economic growth and rising incomes will cause the Chinese to place a huge strain on the world resource base. It seems to me that the wealthier a country is, the more able they are to afford to protect habitat and resources, in which case rising income is a good thing. True, economic growth will strain our ability to provide nonrenewable resources, but perhaps rising incomes will provide the ability to afford alternatives.

The author points to examples of sustainability from New Guinea, where the population has maintained itself for centuries. Unfortunately, for advanced societies, that level of existence would be unacceptable. From the author's perspective it seems impossible to achieve sustainability without a dramatic decline in living standards. If it was a choice between mere subsistence and extinction nearly all would make the obvious choice, but we would never face such a choice, as change is incremental and there is a great deal of uncertainty. It would be more convincing if the author identified a society in which the standard of living was at least close to that of the first world and which appeared to be sustainable, but no such place exists.

The author doesn't plot a course for the future, and rightly so. His prescription would be so harsh that it would have no chance of being adopted. After reading this book I feel trapped between hope that mankind will muddle along as we always have, and a resignation that it's only a matter of time. One might argue that we will survive because we are smarter than those people in ancient societies that collapsed, but the author argues convincingly in his book "The Third Chimpanzee" that we are probably collectively less smart than people in those ancient societies (essentially because the gene pool is weaker now because a higher proportion of individuals live to adulthood and enter the gene pool). So if we're not smarter and our institutions are unable to adapt, the only thing I can think of that offers hope is technology.

The author downplays technology, and this is one area in which I strongly disagree. Yes, it is costly to convert seawater into fresh water, but if we can discover a way to do so cheaply, we could expand cropland in some of the poorest areas of the world. There are cleaner sources of energy that are too expensive to be commercially viable, but as petroleum-based energy sources become more scarce and expensive, these sources may become viable energy sources. And although it seems like it would be a long way off, we may someday be able to mine nonrenewable resources on other planets.

Overall, the author provides an interesting, thought-provoking discussion of some very important problems. The book caused me to spend a lot of time pondering these issues, and the more I pondered, the less comfortable I am drawing conclusions about our future based on the evidence of several collapsed societies. But it does provide some general warnings that societies can, and do, collapse, and that it is not outside the realm of possibility that mankind could face a day of reckoning when environmental factors could cause cataclysmic changes in life as we know it. I certainly hope it doesn't happen anytime soon.

Well written for those who want to know, but want to enjoy the read as well. Love his descriptions of collapsing societies and the comparisons he makes from one to another. Appreciate the lists of factors that cause societies to collapse and how some of those were able to repair the damage done and survive, even thrive.

Just a preface, I bought this book for a political science course at my university and used it for daily discussion for several weeks so I really got to know the book. The insights provided by Diamond are enlightening and inspiring. His analysis of the collapse of several prominent past societies and civilizations due to man's actions on the environment are thought provoking. In our day, how are we behaving just like these past people who brought about their own untimely destruction? Easy to read, fast paced for historical comparison and analysis, overall superb.

This book summarizes the effects of 5 factors causing or contributing to the collapse of more than 7 societies in the past, the success of some and the potentials for future collapses including that of the US. It lists some reasons for optimism, and reasons for pessimism. The five factors analyzed are over use of resources causing environmental damage, climate change exacerbating environmental damage, hostile neighbors, cultural values and attitudes that limited adaption to changing circumstances, and population growth. The descriptions of the societies and their histories are very interesting, the analysis is objective, supported by evidence and for the most part supported by science, archeology and history. As a practicing forester and ecologist for more than 40 years, I consider this book is a must for anyone, liberal or conservative, who is concerned about the future they are bequeathing to their children and grand children.

Collapse is a must read for anyone concerned about the health of their environment, society, and the individuals who are the recipients of the health-giving contributions of Mother Earth and the toxic disease-producing elements of human activity.

This is the work of a pulitzer prize winning academic who has written an accessible book for the intellectually curious that combines aspects of history and science to invent a mechansim for cultrual reflection. It is not definitive, but it is an excellent introduction to a new level of collective self-discovery all societies can bennefit from. It is an especially valuable exploration of vital considerations of viability for a society like ours in which corporations and special interests play a pivotal role in shaping our economy, lifestyle, and political life --not to mention informing our ability to respond and adapt to change. People predisposed to reflection on the cause for our present day realities, who are willing to ponder potential perils in our collective choices, or are optimistic that the past can shed insight into our futures in the hopes of advancing the human condition, will enjoy this author's works.

This is not a work for conservative ideologues who are threatened by the idea that we can shape our future to improve upon the status quo. Perhaps due to the implications for personal aspirations or out of blind esteem for wealth, such folks clearly find the idea that our society should reflect on its future in this manner to be threatening and will tend to react viscerally. Ironically, it is exactly when such a state of mind takes hold among the collective that the choice to fail is made . Buy it, borrow it, but read it.

Jared Diamond is both a great writer who deeply analyses human history and prehistory and how we interact with the natural world and also an underrated MMA fighter. Disagree with him and he will make you look silly then administer an ass kicking like only a crafty elderly man can.