Guns, Germs, and Sophistry
On Tobermory's newsblog, I found this link to VDH's review of Jared Diamond's most recent book, titled Collapse. I read Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, and, while I enjoyed Diamond's writing, I found the book to be intellectually unsatisfying. A lot of the blather seems to make sense, and it seemed that he did a mighty job of finding data to fit his desired conclusion, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is accurate in fact (often not) or correct in interpretation of the purported facts(ditto). Given his propensity for finding data to fit a previously determined conclusion, often ignoring competing facts, critical thought, and logic, Jared Diamond may actually be the pseudo-science world's equivalent of the everybody's favorite ex-news-bufoon, Dan Rather.
On Tobermory's newsblog, I found this link to VDH's review of Jared Diamond's most recent book, titled Collapse. I read Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, and, while I enjoyed Diamond's writing, I found the book to be intellectually unsatisfying. A lot of the blather seems to make sense, and it seemed that he did a mighty job of finding data to fit his desired conclusion, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is accurate in fact (often not) or correct in interpretation of the purported facts(ditto). Given his propensity for finding data to fit a previously determined conclusion, often ignoring competing facts, critical thought, and logic, Jared Diamond may actually be the pseudo-science world's equivalent of the everybody's favorite ex-news-bufoon, Dan Rather.
posted by Paul at 4/26/2005 05:06:00 PM
4 Comments:
Heya Bill!
I was big reader up until Feb 15th (Veronica was born). Once the daughter becomes more easily managed, I hope to start reading more again. I also enjoyed the Hannibal books, but the last one was my least favorite. Even though I enjoyed a lot of it, I found it a bit forced in parts. Was there a reason for this? A little bird from the movie industry told me that the whole "Hannibal mind-rapes Clarice" bit stemmed from a dispute between Harris and Jodie Foster---apparently he became obsessed with her, pursued her, and she shot him down cold. This is also the reason we had Julianne Moore in the 3rd movie.
I like your story idea. It sounds original, and I really enjoy reading something that's different. An example is Greg Iles' "Mortal Fear". It was a success because it combined various elements from horror, suspense and sci-fi, and, at that time, no one had put them together quite that way. "Mortal Fear" took Iles from writing faux-historical Nazi sex thrillers to being an A-list fiction writer.
If you end up writing this, I'd certainly be interested in giving it a read.
Hmmmmm...I wonder what your Aryan ideal, if he survived to modern day, would make of today's society? Would he seek power in politics, business, or the media?
I started reading 'Collapse' and have read 'Guns Germs and Steel'. Also familiar with VDH. Some of his points are valid. For myself, Diamond never explains satisfactorily why some cultures choose cultural values thta make no sense to me (Hindu caste system being one, ancient Chinese over centralization of government for another). On the other hand, having read VDH, before we praise him, let's make a note of a few things. In 'wars of the ancients Greeks', he repeats the same ideas over and over (mainly that the Greek military system that evolved into total war of the West) was superior to anything from the East. Valid point, but could have been summed up in a 3 page commentary as ooposed to 150 page book. Point number two is that VDH lumps the Spartans, Confederate States of America, and the Third Reich all together; mainly that their economic systems were formed on some system of involuntary labor. Something tells me the neo-cons (at least of the South) will take offense at this).
Having had the pleasure of seeing Diamond lecture before, I don't see him as some pie in the sky liberal. Some of his points may not hold up, but i have yet to find the social historian/ scientist that can explain everything.
Hey Rogers! Glad to hear from you...come visit your God-daughter.
I agree that Diamond is not necessarily a total liberal whack-job (I have no idea about his politics, but I did make an inference below), I just found "Guns, Germs, and Steel" to be full of conclusions that didn't seem to add up. I also heard Diamond lecture (at Vandy), and my impression was that he had some ideas, namely that geographical distribution and luck were the sole determinants of what happened to a "people", and that culture and "cultural choices" were not terribly important, and that he worked on coming up with a way to justify his ideas. That's not good scholarship, and it's certainly not good science.
Diamond spent a lot of time amongst primitive people, particularly in New Guinea, and I think that his affection for his stone age compadres played more of a role in his "conclusions" than did scientific analysis (not that anthropology is a REAL science, but that's another rant).
Diamond does make some interesting points, some of which could be valid (at least they sound good), particulary in regards to the early evolution of ancient cultures (of course, that part of the book is pure speculation, nothing more). What annoyed me the most about both "Guns, Germs, and Steel" and Diamond's lecture, was the way he blended archeology (archaeology for my one brit reader) with whole-cloth speculation, never acknowledging the differences between the two.
Anthropomorphizing a society can lead to specious conclusions, but I am inclined to think that Diamond's downplaying the significance of culture's role in a society's outcome is consistent with the liberal idea that individuals are not responsible for the consequences of their actions. Does that make Diamond a liberal? I don't care, really. My issue isn't with his politics, just his successful attempt to put forth his happy theory as science.
and yes, before anybody throws a hissy, i realize that the New Guinea-ites are no longer "Stone Age", though they were still quite primitive at the time Diamond first lived among them.
I apologize to any New Guinea head-hunters, or other New Guinea-ians that I offended.
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