I picked up Jared Diamond’s book Collapse on the recommendation from a friend, however I was not impressed. The book in itself is truly researched and the topic: the collapse of modern and ancient civilisations is important and newsworthy as any report on global warming (think Al Gore). However Diamond soon became dull and kept repeating himself. The 500 plus pages book could easily been cut down to half by tighten up some passages and cutting out others. There were many chapters where he circled around the topic so many times that eventually you lost interest in what you were reading. I respect his diligence and his thorough research and expertise in the subject, but his book would be more successful with a thorough editing.
I did however like the content of the book, I especially liked the chapters, explaining ancient civilisations collapsing because they were overexploiting their resources. A direction I fear we are heading in. The middle part of the book though, explaining the situation in many places around the world today could have been shortened. These are topics that pop up all the time in the news and a simple internet search could lead you to further revelations. Encouraging people to do research for themselves is a great start for understanding the world as it is today, rather than telling them this is how it is. The last part of the book, containing some of the possible solutions to our society’s problem, again could have been shorten for clarity and keeping the reader alert.
Josefine
My recommendations: Discoveries: Easter Island by Catherine Orliac
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