Upheaval - Jared Diamond

⭐ 9.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

Guys I love Jared Diamond. I'm not sure the last time I've appreciated a modern thinker like I do him. I don't always agree on every point, and I can see the flaws in this kind of book, but every book just makes so much sense to me. Each time I read something of his, I feel like I leave it with my worldview altered, sometimes in rather significant ways.

This book is all about how countries react to crisis, and how countries might react to current issues in the future. Each chapter is an example, including Australia, Japan, Finland and Chile among others, and while the history in itself is fascinating, the historical analysis is where it's really at. He uses certain criteria to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each nation, giving us reasoning on why they may have acted in a certain way. He then goes on to discuss current issues in the US (such as the political divide) as well as the world (global warming, nuclear war) and discusses what we can expect to see. Again, this is big picture stuff, but I think he handles it so well and the information is so accessible.

This book is fantastic. It gets a little Gladwell-y where sometimes I feel like he's just telling interesting stories for the sake of telling them, but I think he does a much better job of wrapping it up and showing how these instances contribute to the greater point. The section on the US and world issues were my favorites, mostly because they were a bit more relatable, and often because they were so striking. Just learning about the excess we live with, and how it's so completely unsustainable was mind boggling. He does an amazing job making it very clear for dummies like me.

Like all Jared Diamond books, of course I recommend it but realize it probably doesn't sound that interesting to most. Guess I'll just continue telling you guys all about it and continue being the most interesting (annoying) guy at every party. 🤷‍♂️