The World Until Yesterday - Jared Diamond

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⭐ 9.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

I love Jared Diamond. Reading "Guns, Germs and Steel" really rocked my world and I feel like I thought about it every day since. It's a book that will totally alter your worldview if you don't know about the stuff he talks about, which I didn't. The World Until Yesterday is a bit of an extension of that one, and goes further in depth on why societies have developed the way they have in certain respects, such as why we eat the things we do, how violence has evolved, and why we do things that make us less happy and healthy. He goes on to discuss what we can learn from "traditional societies" which he describes as essentially people in either hunter/ gatherer tribes or at least societies with limited governing order. That discussion is interesting enough, but I was more just fascinated with the anthropological research. Trust me, when covid is over I'll be the most interesting guy at every party...


I feel that a lot of these big-picture books make you hate humans and human history, but I think this one kinda trends the other way a bit. This made me very happy to be in a big government society as I think Diamond does a nice job of not romanticizing traditional culture, and talks about a lot of positive trends humans have made, such as the general peacefulness the majority of westerners live in.


This book also forced me to think critically about pretty big stuff. He has a chapter on religion, and it was difficult to read about because a lot of it feels reductive, but at the same time I can't just dismiss his claims because I respect a lot of what he says otherwise. It was an important experience to be able to read about that and work out my own beliefs.


Anyways, I feel like I have a lot to say on this book because as I constantly mention to people, this book is just crammed with talking points. I love his books, and 100% recommend this one, though I think Guns Germs and Steel is a bit more important. My only minor complaint would be that he makes some pretty generalized arguments, and also relies a lot on personal experience. But in both cases I think it makes the book more fun to read, and also he points out these flaws himself. It just makes it a bit short of a 10 for me.

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