Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies by Jared Diamond.

I’ve read once an article about this book, mentioning that it was the most frequently borrowed book in one university library in Korea. As this book was too famous and highly esteemed, I did not even try to read it, as I did not read most of the recommended readings by the university. I thought it might be a tedious history book. However, surprisingly, after starting reading it, I finished reading with amusement. This book was exceptional and wonderful. This book might be one of my favorite books in the humanity field.

This book is quite thick (around 500 pages) and full of the knowledge of various fields, but focused on a simple purpose, which is answering on one question by the author’s New Guinean friend, ‘Why western civilization became to dominate over or influence other ones’. From the origin of humankind to the current disparity between nations, throughout the book, the author exposed his multidisciplinary background and decades of experience. Above all, I was impressed by the author’s warm and tender mind toward his New Guinean friends and other indigenous people, which originated from his intellect and humility.

As if hundreds of thousands years were required to present human societies, this book, first published in the late 20^th century, seems to have needed intellectual accumulation over one millennium. Lastly, it was also my pleasure as Korean that I found a Korean poem written in Hangeul in this book.

written by Shim G.