Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Readalikes
Jared Diamond is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. He began his scientific career in physiology and expanded into evolutionary biology and biogeography. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Among Dr. Diamond’s many awards are the National Medal of Science, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, Japan's Cosmos Prize, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and the Lewis Thomas Prize honoring the Scientist as Poet, presented by Rockefeller University. He has published more than two hundred articles and his book Guns, Germs, and Steel, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
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What inspired you to write this book? Was there a single
"germ" or
eureka! moment? Did you conceive of Collapse and Guns, Germs, and Steel
as companion volumes from the start—or did the idea for Collapse surface
only after Guns was finished?
Ever since I was in my 20s and read Thor Heyerdahl's books about Easter
Island, I became intrigued by the collapse of great societies—as are
millions of other people. That interest has stayed with me over the last
forty years, stimulated by visits to Maya ruins and Anasazi sites and by
reading about other collapsed societies. I did not conceive of Guns,
Germs, and Steel and Collapse as companion volumes from the
start, but I had already written some magazine articles about collapses in
the 1980s, and the idea for Collapse was percolating below the
surface. After finishing Guns, Germs, and Steel, as soon as I came to
think about what would be the subject of my next book, the answer became
obvious: Collapse!
Both Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse are huge bestsellers—and yet
both are fairly demanding books. Have you been surprised by their success?
How do you...
Poet, essayist, and naturalist, Diane Ackerman is the author of many highly acclaimed works of nonfiction, including A Natural History of the Senses -- a book beloved by readers all over the world and the volumes Deep Play, A... (more)
If you enjoyed:
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David Bellos is the director of the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication at Princeton University, where he is also a professor of French and comparative literature. He has won many awards for his ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The World Until Yesterday
Try:
Is That a Fish in Your Ear?
by David Bellos
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