Rating: 
Summary: Guns, germs, steel, and a lot of words
Review: While I will not suppose myself as a top literary critic, especially for a Pulitzer prize winner like this, I do have some thoughts to share. On the positive side, it had an interesting content and approached a difficult topic in a different light that I personally had not seen before. The examples were clear for the points made.
Now for the other side of the coin. The 480 pages make for a very long read. Add to this length a tendency by the author make the same point over and over and over and (you get my point) in the delivery of views. It made the book feel like 1480 pages. In my mind, this really took away from the arguments presented as it seemed to be very deliberate and not just some kind of writing style.
Read it anyway - I see there is now an abridged version - so get that one instead of the original.
Note that 2.5 stars rounds up to 3
Rating: 
Summary: Politically correct, otherwise completely incorrect
Review: Flaws everywhere. He calls the European Union ECC in 1997. What kind of historician is who does not know the Mastrich Treaty? In 1992 the ECC was renamed to EU, EUROPEAN UNION. He refers the ECC (the EU) as the tiniest and unsuccessful move for a united Europe, such <<tiniest>> move, for example, is the Euro, the European currency adopted by 12 members states. Lovely!
Rating: 
Summary: What in the world ?!
Review: This book is the worst book I have ever read. It is slow and basically repeats the same message throughout each chapter. Whats the point? It's also to long and could be a great book for people who a lot of time to waste but i think it is written poorley and it a bore. If you need a bad book to put you to sleep this is it!
Rating: 
Summary: The unsaid truth about history, evolution and chance
Review: Frankly, many books on history, biology, geography, or even evolutionary psycology, seem to skirt around the issue of why Europeans 'won', why the West dominated the world and other 'races' did not. This books finally ties all the loose thread together, giving a whole image, if in sketch, of the ramifications of those subjects as currently understood.Some of the not so favorable reviewers seem not to have read the book, or seem to be in basic disagreement with evolutionary theory or scientific theory. Diamond is apparently well versed in history, biology, archeology and evolutionary thinking. If not, he is a pretty good con man. His avoidance of teleology alone makes this book several notches above other works I have seen. "Farming gives more food, so people turned to farming" is not allowed here, since the proto-farmers would have no idea of how it would turn out! There are some faults. In the later chapters Diamond is not nearly as meticulous as he is in earlier sections. His sketches become 'sketchier' and apparently more open to criticism. However, I could find no real factual mistakes, especially in reviewing some source documents . In some cases he does not seem to 'demonstrate' his work, only giving the premise and conclusions. Since earlier sections were demonstrated in detail, the conclusions drawn are obvioius. I was just somewhat disappointed that Diamond did not detail those conclusions. These faults are trivial. The display of Pacific Islander history was particularly enjoyable. Compairing and contrasting the resulting myriad societies, and their interactions with each other and finally the 'outside' world sets the tone for the rest of the book. The other sections, describing areas of the world, too are gems to anyone seriously interested in history. If you want a clearer understanding of history, and wish not to rely on religious or racist ideology to bolster claims of superiority, read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Auido Book Review.
Review: May be it's just mine, but the last tape's second half didn't play at all. I was disappointed for not been able to finish the book. Overall, it was nice, and I agree with the author greatly, though I got very confused with the huge amount of info quiet often. By the way, I could hear the Reader turing pages during the last two tapes, pretty cool.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable!
Review: Since the majority of people actually believe this stuff, here is what you can expect to find in your future:
"Well, I've reworked the 4th dimensional math used by Einstein in his equations for gravitational relativity," you say.
"Yes, I can see that your ancestors had a lot of cattle," your Ivy League supervisor replies. "But we wanted to promote someone 'intelligent' for this position. That's why we're giving this promotion to a New Guinea CANNIBAL."
Yes - that's right, CANNIBAL! Among people with an intelligence that can actually be 'measured' with a test, as opposed to those with an intelligence that must be (for any number of reasons) merely 'insisted' upon, New Guinea natives are MOST well known as being the very same HEAD HUNTERS and CANNIBALS that you have seen portrayed on "Gilligan's Island".
Is it only me? Or could there be a more horrifying future? Or should I say 'present'?
Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: This book takes one chapter worth of material on a very interesting subject and repeats it over and over to the point where the reader is bored sensless. I couldn't even finish the thing. I learned from this that the Pulitzer prize is no mark of excellence. Don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: An Important Book For All
Review: This Pulitzer-Prize-winning work disproves racist theories of human-evolution. 'Guns, Germs, and Steel' discusses everything from human origins, geography and climate of areas, plant and animal species available to early societies, the formation of alphabets, the formations of diseases and immunities to them, and more. The book is loaded with theories that are backed up with fact after fact after fact, while Diamond's writing style and wit keeps the reader turning the pages. Diamond takes you across the world, and draws a lot from his time spent in New Guinea. This is a very important book and should be taught at the high school level. I'm looking forward to what Diamond will publish next!
Rating:
Summary: Very good, but slightly biased
Review: Very informative and well written. However, the author's own experiences in his contacts with New Guinean hunter-gatherers may have led him to abandon his otherwise objective and critical views. We are all equal, but hunter-gatherers are more equal than others. Also, his account of the capture of the Aztec monarch by the Spanish draws upon data (for example, one the numerical odds and the relative importance of technological, epidemiological and cultural/political factors) which are by no means undisputed (see for example: George Raudzens, "Main Reasons for Early Colonial Conquests, 1493-1788", in: G. Raudzens (ed.), Technology, Disease and Colonial Conquests, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries: Essays Reappraising the Guns and Germs Theories. Leiden [etc.]: Brill, 2001, pp 31-57, which also refers to Diamond's book). Nevertheless, 'Guns, Germs, and Steel' presents a gripping narrative, especially the "Speedboat to Polynesia" chapter. It synthesizes information from vastly different fields that the average person wouldn't think of, and may prove an eye-opener to many.
Rating:
Summary: Apparently...
Review: Apparently, if you take the author at his words, the Europeans have their ACCOMPLISHMENTS and the rest of the world has their JUSTIFICATION as to why they don't have any ACCOMPLISHMENT. And, it had nothing to do with HARD WORK, LEARNING or NATIVE INTELLIGENCE but had everything to do with CATTLE, GEOGRAPHY and EAST-WEST TRADE ROUTES. Simple, right?
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