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Title: Tries to do too much
Review: Diamond creates a sweeping picture of the development of humanity. However, his book is Euro-centric, patronizing and bound by European concepts of time and space. He fails to consider native perspectives on Europeans, does not explore Native empires to an adequate degree, and entirely dismisses the importance of religion to both European and Native societies. The author does not discuss the role of human agency in determining the fate of society. Diamond also fails to explore the China questions: having had the same or more advanced resources and technology as the Europeans, why didn't China take over the world? He discusses germs in depth, but spends little or no time on guns and steel.Having read this book side by side with Mann's 1491, I definitely recommend the latter
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