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]

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