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Title: Engrossing historical analysis that leaves you rethinking.
Review: Good analysis gets beyond proximate causes and into the actual causes for general technological development. It's presentation is balanced and reasonable not fanatical or political. Centered on the attempt to answer the question about the conquest of the New World by the Old, as opposed to the other way around. Primarily focussed on the presense of raw animal and plant materials for the development of domestication. But overall provides a fairly lucid presentation of human history before writing, which is typically inadequately dealt with in history books. For me, the only thing I didn't like was the title. The best pre-historical history book I have read. One apparent lacunae to me was neglecting the effect of the Mediterranean on the development of Southern Europe and North Africa. The Third Chimpanzee is also as good, but focusses instead on human development. Both are enjoyable.
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