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Compelling argument, but dull reading I have to agree with the reviewer who judged the book "fascinating, and yet so tedious". I found the main argument of Mr Diamond rather convincing. The reasons why humanity strived in certain geographical areas and not in others are also to be found in the way our planet, and life on it, are organized. The possibilities for agriculture and animal husbandry and the different epidemiological situations that different locations offered to our ancestors surely had a powerful impact in determining which societies could evolve better, and sooner. For this the author deserves 5 stars. This vision is completely consistent with my materialistic ideas about how we ended up being what we are, and where we are. However, I am surprising to find that so many reviewers (professionals and amateurs alike) find Mr Diamond a brilliant writer. Of course I do think he writes well, but I also think he is in a different league with respect to someone like, say, the late Stephen J Gould (at least the "first" Gould, before he started loving himself and his ideas so much to become unnecessarily pompous and self-referential). Mr Diamond writes clearly and convincingly, but he does it in a very dull and very very very etc. repetitive way. This is one of those really insighful books for which intellectual joy only comes from reading the introduction. After that, the rest of the book is just repetition of the main argument, and filling the blanks. This is not to say that details are unimportant. Quite the contrary. But they are often not that exiciting. I have only read a few chapters of this book, and then I gave up, rather bored by the lack of additional knowledge provided by later chapters. I had an even worse experience with one of his previous books (The third Chimapanzee). Mr Diamond is very creative and I really like his ideas, but I just don't like his books....