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Title: Decent but not outstanding
Review: There was obviously someone awake in the sales department when coming up with the title of this book but it really was not as scintillating as I had hoped. Collapse starts out kind of slow, with some rambling on about Diamond's experiences in Montana, before it gets interesting. The middle section is decent, concerning societies that have collapsed and the various reasons why and then the end gets kind of preachy, about what we can do to save-the-spotted-owl and that sort of thing. For those who have read "Guns, Germs, and Steel", Diamond's exhausive (and exhausting) statistic-laden writing style will be familiar but, if you have not read his earlier work, don't pick up "Collapse" expecting a white-knuckle thriller. It is really more of an academic tome than popular reader. In all, I think many people will be duped into expecting more excitement from "Collapse" than it delivers.
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