I also like to read popular and controversial works, seeing if I can spot problems from a lay perspective, and especially so that I can see what the common sense or popular perspective more or less is. I'm curious if you're working on a piece that goes into the supposed errors of that text, the controversies surrounding it, and whether you were able to pick up on any of those issues? Thanks!
GGS definitely deserves a full response. There's a lot of critics, but I'm not aware of anyone else who attempts to cover the last 12,000 years as widely and thoroughly (or briefly and superficially, depending on who you ask), while at the same time keeping things accessible for a layperson and enjoyable to read. I would compare GGS to Spengler in this sense, although they have totally opposite starting points.
Rather than beating up on GGS (there's plenty of take-downs) I would rather try to write my own GGS with positive arguments for what I think happened rather than endlessly criticizing what is now essentially old science. In that respect Diamond cannot be blamed -- a lot of new evidence has come out, even in the last 5 years!
I would focus on four elements: 1. Religion; 2. Mountains; 3. The Euxinic Culture; 4. The Green Sahara. I think if I was to fully explicate each element that would be equivalent to 20 articles, or 40,000 words. I'm like 10% of the way there. Maybe by the end of the year I can get that finished!
I also like to read popular and controversial works, seeing if I can spot problems from a lay perspective, and especially so that I can see what the common sense or popular perspective more or less is. I'm curious if you're working on a piece that goes into the supposed errors of that text, the controversies surrounding it, and whether you were able to pick up on any of those issues? Thanks!
GGS definitely deserves a full response. There's a lot of critics, but I'm not aware of anyone else who attempts to cover the last 12,000 years as widely and thoroughly (or briefly and superficially, depending on who you ask), while at the same time keeping things accessible for a layperson and enjoyable to read. I would compare GGS to Spengler in this sense, although they have totally opposite starting points.
Rather than beating up on GGS (there's plenty of take-downs) I would rather try to write my own GGS with positive arguments for what I think happened rather than endlessly criticizing what is now essentially old science. In that respect Diamond cannot be blamed -- a lot of new evidence has come out, even in the last 5 years!
I would focus on four elements: 1. Religion; 2. Mountains; 3. The Euxinic Culture; 4. The Green Sahara. I think if I was to fully explicate each element that would be equivalent to 20 articles, or 40,000 words. I'm like 10% of the way there. Maybe by the end of the year I can get that finished!