Collapse

[DanM]

Anyone else reading Jarred Diamond's Collapse?  I'm finding it fascinating.  His account of the tenuous existence of Vikings on Greenland particularly interested me.  What a strange place to try to eke out an existence.  I don't understand how such a hardy and war-like people managed to forgo settling in Nova Scotia, where life would have been much easier.  With enough ships and the right equipment, they could have survived anything that the natives threw at them.  But it wasn't meant to be.  Instead, they were destined to suffer for centuries in "Green" land.

[Maximus]

Read it.  Great book.  The author did a special on TV that was equally fun to watch.  Can't remember the name of it, or what channel.  He talked a lot about the Dutch settlers who pushed north from South Africa and were wiped out. 

[DanM]

Found this amusing quote about Collapse on Amazon:

"In his latest book "Collapse" Jared Diamond" continues to push the Europhobic liberal agenda. Hiding behind the facade of environmentalism Diamond crafts a sub-text that calls for Europeans to embrace the values of failed third-world cultures and abandon the pursuit of technological advancement that has created global European cultural hegemony. Unfortunately for Diamond, genuine scientific research is revealing much of his work to be based on nothing more than wishful thinking and an overactive imagination."

Europhobic liberal agenda?  The author of this quote appears a bit unbalanced.  I don't recall Diamond calling for the abandonment of technological advancement...  Entertaining stuff.

[Maximus]

I think that Amazon reviewer has an agenda of his own.  It's rather bleak conspiracy theory that he's painted.  Not that Diamond's book isn't without flaws.  That's certainly not the case.  But still, give me a break!  Thanks for the entertaining quote.

[vitis]

I watched one TV series on/by Jared Diamond called 'Guns, Germs and Steel'. This was notable chiefly for the number of times per episode the voice over guy said "(significant pause) Guns, Germs and Steel". Its basic assertion was that the West gained hegemony over the world largely through good luck - geographical, zoological and botanical. This is perhaps a good corrective to some varieties of colonialist jingoism but far too reductivist and simplistic for my liking. In my view, both for good and for ill, European culture has a certain peculiar dynamism and flexibility than has contributed to its success, at least alongside (significant pause) guns, germs and steel.

[DR]

I believe I may have seen the same series.  I didn't think his observations were terribly remarkable, in any event.  I did enjoy reading about the Dutch settlers in Africa.  Yes, their machine guns did unsurprisingly help them in the battles against the indigenous people, who were armed with spears.  And of course as they proceeded too far north, malaria took it's toll.  It was an entertaining show, but didn't really offer any new insights into colonialism.