# Jared Diamond's Collapse **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219 "2005-12-12T04:56:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219/1 "2005-12-12T04:56:05Z")
Could anyone else here not finish “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed”? I read “Guns, Germs and Steel” twice so I was thrilled when I heard about Collapse coming out. I’m cheap so I waited for the price to drop and finally bought it about a month ago. My excitement evaporated when I get the book and it seemed more like I was reading Diamond’s class report on how he spent his summer vacation. The Montana section was loaded with all sorts of details on his family trips, growing up there and other details about what he did. All I really got from the book before selling it on [half.com](http://half.com) was that you shouldn’t cut down your trees. Seemed like everyone did the same thing, cut down all their trees. Fools. OK, sorry, I’m sure Diamond is an idol around here but I just couldn’t finish the book. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219/2 "2005-12-12T05:21:25Z")
Supposedly it wasnt even natural deforestation that led to the collapse, it was rats [http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2005-12-05-easter-island\_x.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2005-12-05-easter-island_x.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219/3 "2005-12-12T05:24:54Z")
I was on the Diamond bandwagon for a while after reading GG&S, but then I read _The Third Chimpanzee_, and earlier book of his, and was underwhelmed to the point that it made me take another look at GG&S. Upon reflection, there are some serious weaknesses to that book as well. So I’m off the bandwagon now. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219/4 "2005-12-12T05:31:22Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > . Upon reflection, there are some serious weaknesses to that book as well. Such as? ---
**Author:** ![mcott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@mcott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcott)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219/5 "2005-12-12T05:41:55Z")
I’d have to agree that _Collapse_ was a very difficult book to read. _GGS_ was a great book, and I bought _Collapse_ with great anticipation. I made it through four chapters. It had the potential, but just didn’t grab me. Conversely, I bought _Krakatoa (sp?)_ by Simon Winchester and couldn’t finish that either. I’m currently reading _A Crack in the Edge of the World_, and it’s been very engaging so far. I guess sometimes it’s hit or miss with any author, depending on what one wants to read at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219/6 "2005-12-12T10:27:17Z")
> [@treis](#): > > Such as? I don’t want to hijack this thread. Very briefly, I think he’s got a nice little idea, but he loves it so much he’s mentally made it into much much more. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219/7 "2005-12-12T13:07:38Z")
My reaction to **Collapse** was that Diamond has become such A Name that he’s become immune to being edited – the book was about 200 pages longer than it should have been. I made it through all the case studies, I think [I read it at least six months ago, I don’t really remember], but skimmed most of the last section and skipped the last couple chapters completely. A major disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219/8 "2005-12-12T14:30:09Z")
I was waiting for the book to come out in paperback (which the computer at the bookstore said would happen early next year). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219/9 "2005-12-12T23:48:11Z")
_Guns, Germs and Steel_ had issues but I could overlook those. He devoted far too much of the book to his personal experiences in New Guinea and I felt he was striving to be too politically correct. The again, it covers a touchy subject and he had to walk a fine line between being called a scholar or racist. The talk about domestication of plants, migration routes and other topics made the book well worth reading. _Collapse_ just didn’t have those redeeming qualities. After going through pages of his family’s vacation history in Montana I finally skipped ahead. The chapter on Easter Island really let me down because I find the subject so fascinating. I really didn’t care to read page after page about him walking around and looking at statues or his plane flight. I wanted to read about the islands history and decline. I made it through one more chapter, possibly the Maya empire before I finally gave up. During the same timeframe I also read \* Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific \* which contained way more detail than required but I still managed to get through it. The chapter on weather started to really wear thin after 12 pages about clouds but I still finished the book. _Collapse_ was another story. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219/10 "2005-12-13T03:50:58Z")
I loved _Guns, Germs, and Steel_ and _The Third Chimpanzee_ both but was vastly disappointed in Collapse as well. Whoever it was that said it read like “What I Did This Summer” had it spot on. It was just dreadfully long and boring and dry. I think I stopped with about six chapters to go. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-diamonds-collapse/335219/11 "2005-12-13T10:06:52Z")
I read it all the way through, but parts of it were definitely a dull slog. It wasn’t a bad topic, and some of the information and writing was interesting. It largely just seemed half-baked, as if I were reading one of his first drafts. Nothing seemed polished or revised.