Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive

by Jared Diamond

paperback, 592 pages

Published Jan. 1, 2005 by Penguin Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-14-027951-1

(66 reviews)

"In his Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond examined how and why Western civilizations developed the technologies and immunities that allowed them to dominate much of the world. Now, Diamond probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to collapse into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates?" "As in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond weaves an all-encompassing global thesis through a series of historical-cultural narratives. Moving from the prehistoric Polynesian culture on Easter Island to the formerly flourishing Native American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya, the doomed medieval Viking colony on Greenland, and finally to the modern world, Diamond traces a fundamental pattern of catastrophe, spelling out what happens when we squander our resources, when we ignore the signals our environment gives us, and when we reproduce too fast or cut down too …

27 editions

U de Recife reviewed Collapse by Jared Diamond

Review of 'Collapse' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

You probably know the author from his masterpiece Guns, Germs and Steel. If you do, you know what to expect from this book. The same thorough explanations, the vast array of interconnected factors, all grounded on scientific data.

This is not the book for those who truly want an optimistic view of what the future holds for us. The title says it all: collapse. So the author guides us through many paradigmatic collapses of civilizations that acted either greedy, naively, or simply recklessly.

11 years from its publication and the rate of global destruction has not halted — in fact, it is accelerating, as predicted by those who are often called pessimists. So, in a sense, Jared Diamond’s call to action to make the change happen has not come to fruition. However, if you happen to read this book, you’ll probably become one amongst many contributing to at …

Paul Fidalgo reviewed Collapse by Jared Diamond

Review of 'Collapse' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

Now don't get me wrong. He's a great writer with an amazing grasp of the subject matter. But lawd, lawd, he could have utilized endnotes or footnotes a TAD more. Very long, very drawn out, overly detailed. I must admit, I had to skim through some of the end because my brain was leaking out my ears. I loved Guns Germs and Steel, but this lacks the thrill of that particular discovery. Anyway, a perfect textbook for this subject, but just, well, too much.

Sean reviewed Collapse by Jared Diamond

Review of 'Collapse' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

gpa bill gave me this one for xmas. a few pgs in and it's definitely on the intriguing side.

Mark Anderson reviewed Collapse by Jared Diamond

Review of 'Collapse' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book is a must read for environmentalist minded folk, in that it provides clear reference to historical examples of environmentally triggered collapses of societies. We can utilize this information in not only strengthening the call of warning that is building momentum and movement towards sustainable business practices and governmental policy, but furthermore towards achieving a vision for the future.

Jared Diamond's text can be boring at times, once you've gotten the gist of his purpose, but I found it enriching as a whole, and exciting from time to time. He dabbles in providing solutions and in critiquing modern society at the conclusion of the book, but I think perhaps he is better suited at providing clarity on the past as to how it relates to the present, rather than in looking at means of addressing the future.

For further reading on how to address these critical issues, I suggest …

Daniel Norton reviewed Collapse by Jared Diamond

Review of 'Collapse' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I liked this book better than "Guns, Germs, and Steel" possibly because I connected to Diamond's arguments that lack of foresight, especially regarding environmental impact, often leads to drastic consequences for societies.

AliCorbin reviewed Collapse by Jared Diamond

Review of 'Collapse' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Everyone was glad that they had read (or had read part of) the book. But....

There was a suspicion that Diamond had started out with his conclusion, and then cherry-picked his facts to support it. Carolyn and Jenna certainly felt that his depictions of Montana and Chaco Canyon, respectively, were off the mark. And although he stated that he wrote the book from the middle of the road, to try to sway people to avert the impending doom, one would suspect that only leftist pinko people would actually manage to finish the book, and so the last chapters were merely preaching to the choir again.