October Meeting: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

For our October selection, we’re reading Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond - winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth Club of California’s Gold Medal. This landmark book offers a sweeping, ambitious examination of why societies developed so differently across the globe.

Diamond, a geographer and evolutionary biologist, tackles some of humanity’s biggest questions: Why did certain civilizations rise to power while others remained marginalized? What roles did geography, technology, and environment play in shaping the fate of nations? Blending history, science, and storytelling, Guns, Germs, and Steel challenges the idea that differences in success stem from inherent cultural or racial factors, instead pointing to the pivotal influence of resources and circumstance.

This book invites us to reconsider our assumptions about history, inequality, and progress. It’s a fascinating, perspective-shifting read - sure to spark deep conversation about the roots of global power and the forces that continue to shape our world today.