Summary: Collapse E-Book

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• Herausgeber: Political Book Summaries
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 26

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The must-read summary of Jared Diamond’s book: “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed”. 

This complete summary of “Collapse” by Jared Diamond, a renowned scientist, writer and cautious optimist for the world's future, presents his explanation of the secret to why some societies succeed, while others fail. To do this, the author investigates several significant events from the past that have caused societies to self-destruct and what this discovery means for our future. By reading the evidence put forward by Diamond, we can understand what causes societies to fail and ensure that our society succeeds. 

Added-value of this summary:
• Save time
• Understand civilization, society and the threats posed to them
• Expand your knowledge of politics, civilization and demography

To learn more, read “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” and find out how we can avoid the decisions that caused previous societies to fail.

Leseprobe

Book Presentation: Collapse by Jared Diamond

Book Abstract

In Collapse, Jared Diamond argues that present global resource consumption trends are not sustainable. Throughout history, civilizations have collapsed or declined, in no small measure, because their populations have undermined the ecological niches upon which their existence depends. Diamond believes that a complex set of factors, such as environmental resilience (or fragility), social flexibility, larger global trends and even pure luck, combine in unpredictable ways to influence whether societies fail or succeed.

Studying how past civilizations have met, or failed to meet, environmental challenges may prove crucial in averting future global calamities. In the past, when a civilization failed, its impact was usually localized. But in today’s interconnected world, a failure in one part of the globe will have wide repercussions that have the potential to affect all mankind. This should cause us great concern, but by acknowledging the serious challenges we face, we may yet be able to avoid some of the worst catastrophes that might await us otherwise.

About the Author

Jared Diamond teaches geography at the University of California and is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel. One of the most distinguished experts in the field of evolutionary biology, Diamond’s work draws interest and acclaim from both academics and the general public. He has written more than 200 articles for magazines such as Discover, Nature and Geo, and his work has proven highly influential in informing public discourse on a range of environmental and social issues.

Summary of Collapse(Jared Diamond)

Collapses Past and Present

The collapses of societies tend to display recurrent themes or patterns. Population growth, for example, tends to encourage intensified methods of agricultural production. However, unsustainable agricultural practices invariably lead to ecological damage, consequently leading to food shortages, starvation, wars and civil unrest. Eventually, a society’s population is decreased through these factors, as well as the society’s complexity, which gave rise to the unsustainable population excesses in the first place. Thus, many writers draw analogies between the life span of human beings and the life span of civilizations – they speak of the birth, growth, decline and death of societies – but in actuality, most societies collapse rather suddenly compared to the extended senescence that attends human aging.

Ecocide, or ecological suicide, is an issue that appears to be eclipsing nuclear holocaust as the biggest threat to global civilization. Small-scale ecological catastrophes have already taken place in Somalia, Rwanda and other Third World countries. The environmental threats we face today are the same as those that have undermined previous human societies. Therefore, studying how past societies handled ecological challenges are vital if we are to avert the numerous threats that are virtually certain to become critical over the next several decades.

Five-Point Framework

It isn’t possible to blame a society’s collapse solely on environmental damage – there are always other factors. However, there is a five-point framework for attempting to describe any putative collapse. They are:

Environmental DamageClimate ChangeHostile NeighborsFriendly Trading PartnersA Society’s Response to Environmental Challenges