I wanted to read this book because I saw the television program based on it and found it quite compelling. The book provides a fuller treatment of the issues involved. It is well written and absorbing, although eventually the author ends up going over similar territory repeatedly so the later part of the book is less interesting. I find the author's basic idea,--that differences among parts of the world are due to natural features and geography rather than some innate characteristics the peoples who inhabit those areas--to be fruit for helpful discussions about why the world is the way it is.