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Illuminating If all men are created equal, then why are some cultures so much more technologically and economically advanced than others? Racists have always made me feel uneasy becuase, while I have never been impressed by their attitudes, I have also felt powerless to change them. This book was my first exposure to an explanation of cultural inequity founded -- ultimately -- on something other than race. If your tribe lives in a land with a mild climate and fertile soil, with plants and animals that can be domesticated, you will do better over time than a tribe that lives in a less favorable place. If your society is geographically isolated, you will be invaded less (and thus have less incentive to invent new technologies to defend yourself), but you will also have fewer opportunities to trade goods and knowledge: your society will progress more slowly than one more exposed to (and connected to) others. I am not a cultural anthropologist nor am I a serious student of social issues, so I cannot comment on the sholarly worthiness of this book. However, as a curious layman, I found this to be an extraordinarily illuminating book, not least as a commentary on the the overwhelming influence of context on outcomes.