Give the book a read!

This is an excellent book! Sadly, those that have leveled criticism of bias are the ones guilty of the act. With regard to Agnew's review, I would encourage him to read the book! As Diamond would argue, favorable geography, access to sturdy and hearty cereal grasses as well as animals that can be easily domesticated allowed for civilization to take hold. He isn't saying that culture, religion and other aspects of civilization didn't play an important role. Rather, he is saying with out access to these crops and later animals' civilization and all that comes with it wouldn't exist.

Excellent!

There are many reviewers here that make great comments on the strengths of this ambitious work; Some others are deeply driven by their obvious political bias. If you approach this text with an open mind and with a notion to keep judgment at a minimum, the book illuminates the inherent forces and pre-conditions that has set societies in motion: Diamond does a superb job of carefully threading through the vagaries associated with developed modern Human society. This is a fantastic piece of scholarship.

Great Lay Presentation

Having traveled extensively, I've often wondered why particular groups and cultures were not more successful. It's clear to me that regardless of race or culture, no particular subset of humanity averages smarter or "better," and yet, some are tremendously advanced while others are still trying to jumpstart their societal development.