Some reviewers more pointedly question the relevance of the first part of the book altogether. The primary problem most critics cite with respect to Diamond's Collapse is the unclear connection between the first and second parts of the text.

The second part of the book concentrates on the demise of societies in Rwanda, Hispaniola, China, and Australia. Diamond contrasts these societal failures with the successes of island societies in New Guinea, Tikopia, and Tokugawa Japan. The first part of the text concentrates primarily on the collapse of societies on relatively isolated islands, such as Easter Island, Pitcairn and Henderson Islands, and the country of Greenland and secondarily on the collapse of the ancient societies of the Anasazi and the Maya. Most of the reviews have been favorable, though, some have questioned, the book's organization into two seemingly disparate parts.

New York, NY: Viking Penguin, 2005.ĭiamond's 2005 book has been reviewed in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, and The London Review of Books, as well as in many academic publications. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.

Jared diamond collapse pdf