Book News and Recommendations

[thewayne]

The name of the book is Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond. I somehow totally overlooked including the title when I made the post. :-) Here's the Amazon entry. Thanks to Cardigirl for noticing my ommission (my wife caught it later).

Heck of a book which I admit to not having finished yet, the author discusses why some cultures flourish when others do not. Well, now it's going to be a series on PBS! This is an interview with the author, Jared Diamond. He’s a heck of a researcher and has a number of other books that I’d love to check out.

Another recommendation is Gavin Menzies’ 1421: The Year China Discovered America, again, a book that I’ve started but not yet finished as I can’t find it at the moment.

And Magic Rat also recommended a book called Salt by Mark Kurlansky. Yet another that I want to read one of these days.

Comments

[cardigirl.livejournal.com]

Wooooohoooooooo! "Guns Germs and Steel" (which you neglected to name but which was instantly recognizable to me) is one of the best books I've read in the past ten years. Fascinating stuff, and doubly so if you're someone who (like me) has occasional delusions of world-creation/sf-f writing.

Sadly, his recent book "Collapse" isn't nearly as readable. I gave up on it about 1/3 of the way through, and I almost never give up on a book once I've started it.

[cardigirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'd add Cod to your TBR list -- like Salt, it takes something humble and draws out its place in world history.

[magic-rat.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest the same book, but you beat me to it. I never realized how important cod-fishing was in the overall scheme of world events. Nor did I realize how interesting it would be to read about that.

[cardigirl.livejournal.com]

I got it as a book on CD from the library. This was the first time I'd really found a spoken book at a disadvantage to a written one -- I kept wanting to stop the car and write down recipes! lol