Collapse

In his runaway bestseller "Guns, Germs, and Steel," Jared Diamond brilliantly examined the circumstances that allowed Western civilizations to dominate much of the world. Now he probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to fall into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates? Using a vast historical and geographical perspective ranging from Easter Island and the Maya to Viking Greenland and modern Montana, Diamond traces a fundamental pattern of environmental catastropheaone whose warning signs can be seen in our modern world and that we ignore at our peril. Blending the most recent scientific advances into a narrative that is impossible to put down, Collapse exposes the deepest mysteries of the past even as it offers hope for the future. Diamondas most influential gift may be his ability to write about geopolitical and environmental systems in ways that donat just educate and provoke, but entertain.a "The Seattle Times" Extremely persuasive . . . replete with fascinating stories, a treasure trove of historical anecdotes [and] haunting statistics. "The Boston Globe" Extraordinary in erudition and originality, compelling in [its] ability to relate the digitized pandemonium of the present to the hushed agrarian sunrises of the far past.a "The New York Times Book Review"

About The Author

Jared Diamond is one of America's most celebrated scholars. A professor of Geography and Physiology at the University of California, he is equally renowned for his work in the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology, and for his ground-breaking studies of the birds of Papua New Guinea.

Author of eight books and numerous academic monographs, Diamond's best-selling The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee won two science prizes in 1992. It was the 1997 publication of Guns, Germs and Steel, which sealed Diamond's global reputation. The book has since won the Pulitzer Prize, been translated into 25 languages and sold millions of copies around the world.

The ease with which Professor Diamond can encapsulate and explain major patterns in human history, from such an original perspective, ensures that he remains a popular draw to lecture audiences and the international media across the globe. His latest book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, was published in December, 2004 and quickly became a best-seller.

Born in Boston in 1937, Diamond now lives in California with his wife and family. Here, he offers a unique perspective on the background to, and impact of, Guns, Germs and Steel.