Collapse: how societies choose to succeed of fail By Jared Diamond Is a book I'd highly reccomend... I give it a 9 out of 10:jam:
Basically it is about how some of the most advanced cultures of thier time and place faired though history, based on how they viewed thier environments, and what we can learn from them.
He covers both loosers (Easter Island, Norse Greenland, "Classic" Mayans and Anasazi) and winners (Tokugawa Japan, New Guinea, Tikopa) as well as modern societies facing (and some having gone through) environmental disaster and possibly social collapse. (Australia, China, Montana, Ruwanda)
While I agree with his premice that Environmental degridation was a part of the Ruwandan Genocide I'm not sure I agree that it was the key factor. Though he does make a good case for it being a major player in the atrocities that happined.
It is definatly a thought provoking and very well reserched book. His style is flowing and engaging making it a wonderfully easy read. He brings the hard choices that our ancestors and our contemperarys face to life. Rather than passing sweeping judgments on thier decisions, he gives you a chance to think about what they must have been faced with and how thier cultures and morals shaped thier views and thier fates. His work illustrates how quickly a culture at it peak (as all of them were) can simply fall apart and fade into the dimness of history.
It makes you ponder our own cultures views on the environment and how our choices will impact on our future. All in all I would definatly call this a must read!! :bounce
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0670033375/102-0233295-7987316?v=glance
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