Guns, Germs, and Steel

In 1997, 25 years after Alex raised that thought-provoking question, Jared Diamond finally had the confidence to write and publish this "Guns, Germs, and Steel". Its subversion is self-evident. The first-mover advantage of civilization that modern Western society is proud of is attributed to the profound influence of environment and geography in this book. For a time, supporters of the "racial superiority theory" were unable to refute, because this physiologist put 13,000 years of human history into the research evidence of evolutionary biology, anthropology, linguistics, archaeology and many other disciplines, and Comparing the development speed of various continents and multi-ethnic groups, it is well-founded. Diamond also won the Pulitzer Prize in the United States and the Science Popularization Award in the United Kingdom for this work.

Why did Europeans conquer the New World with guns, germs and steel instead of Africans or Native Americans sailing across the ocean to conquer Europe? Why do some societies have well-established social organizations and cultural achievements, while others are still in a primitive state of hunting and gathering without metal tools? What determines the distribution of power and wealth in the world today? This book attempts to answer the above questions. In Diamond's view, the emergence of food production enabled the Eurasian continent to seize the opportunity for the development of civilization. Writing, technology, and government are all "by-products" of food surplus; and the number of animal and plant species and the direction of the continental axis determine The early development and backwardness of food production in each continent is the ultimate reason that affects different races to follow different historical development trajectories. Therefore, the superiority of the environment and resources has nourished Western civilization to take root firmly on the fertile soil and bear fruit quickly, rather than race itself having biological advantages.

Today, the wheel of human history described by Diamond in the book is still moving forward, but the crisis facing modern civilized society has already far surpassed the dilemma of conquering and being conquered represented by guns, germs and steel. However, when mankind as a whole is dealing with the threats of global climate change, infectious disease pandemics, nuclear weapons, and resource depletion, it can still find answers from the grand narrative of human history in Guns, Germs, and Steel.

The new version in 2022, comprehensively supplemented and edited the translation, and added the Chinese publication preface of "To My Chinese Readers" written by the author himself. The "Interpretation" is attached with the book, and 15 authoritative experts are strongly invited to recommend and interpret it passionately.