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Free Example of Germs, Guns and Steel Essay
A book Germs, guns and steel: fates of human societies. It was written by Jared Diamond a professor of physiology and geography at California University in Los Angeles. In general, the book won Pulitzer Prize and non-fiction, also “Aventis Prize for the Best Science Book”. This book tends to explain why the Eurasian civilizations including North Africa survived and then conquered the others (Diamond, 1995). Moreover, the book refutes the assumption linking Eurasian hegemony to any moral, Eurasian intellectual form or the superiority genetic inherent.
In the book, Diamond argues that, the technology and power gap between the human societies comes from differences in environment; they are then amplified by several positive feedback loops (Jared, 2005). The book portrays Eurasians, for instance, as resistance to endemic diseases and developed in writing language. Jared asserts that, some of these advantages did occur because of the pressure from societies, geography and cultures; however, they were not inborn when Eurasian genomes are involved.
Japanese success in forestry reserves is the main argument in the discussion. The paper talks about the achievement of Japanese in reserving their forest while the other big nations like America did not. It expands on the techniques applied by the Japanese in reserving their forest.
Japan’s forestry reserves
According to the book, Japan is portrayed as a success in forestry reservations. Collapse, a book by Diamond also examines the societies which proved to be suitable over centuries. Apart from Iceland, other examples consists of Polynesian islands in Tonga and Tikopia, it was 3000 years ago that people settled here and New Guinea highland. The most relevant country according to Diamond was Japan.
Perhaps, Japan is the most relevant to our world. The Japanese were highly intelligent and most industrious. Also, the people of Japan were ethnically homogeneous; they showed a remarkable prescience in recognizing the negative impact of deforestation asserts Diamond. In 1600 A.D., Japanese were in a edge of clearing out their forests. The results were negative for they were faced with shortages. This prompted the Japanese government to Shoguns on the compulsory and strict limits on timber harvesting.
The Consequences yielded positive results to the nation towards reserving forests. After reduction in the consumption of timber to an extent which maintained sustainable forests until now. Lately, Japan has increased the use of wood without affecting their forest reserves. In his book Diamond puts, Japan is one of world’s biggest and largest importers of forest products (Jared, 2005). Timber is seen as the major player that drives 3rd World deforestation. On the contrary, Japan is also one of the worst exploiters of the ocean fisheries posing a threat to the world’s whales says Diamond.
Diamond goes on to compare New Guinea with Japan. He argues that, the inhabitants of New Guinea lack high degree when it comes to intelligence as compared to the Japanese. The Japanese are intelligent, he quotes, “but the New Guinea people have never evolved beyond a quasi-Stone Age existence”, comparing them to the primitive people. Jared attributes the Japanese success to a very mysterious and also unique folk wisdom blend. On the other hand, one can also summarize that, the New Guinea people’s permittivity hardly have the same demands on issues affecting the environment as compared to the advanced ones, in this case, the Japanese. Diamond being politically correct ignores the possibility.
In conclusion, indeed, “Diamonds Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs and Steel” constituted a rhetorical slick effort so that he could prove the success and results from the accidents occurring on environment e.g. geography, climate, and germs. Instead, from his fact that many different people always vary in their inherent capabilities. He continues asserting that, all people are the same and ability is always central principle of cultural Marxism, even if it is disproved by century of testing intelligence.