[Book Summary] Guns, Germs, and Steel--The Rise and Spread of Food Production (Part 1)

In this blog, I will first briefly summarise part 2 of the book since I have been occupied with my other commitments. The first two chapters describe the problem the author intends to solve in the next five chapters.

The Core Arguments

• The author argues that the availability of domestic plants and animals ultimately explains the differences in human development.
• The author also provides a detailed account of food production in different parts of the world, such as the Fertile Crescent, China, Mesoamerica, the Andes, and the Eastern United States. It is observed that food production may fail even in some ecologically suitable areas, and the time to develop food production can vary greatly.

Key Points

• The following diagram provides an overview of the causal chain from food production to human development:

• The author divides the world into two groups: the Fertile Crescent, China, Mesoamerica, the Andes, and the Eastern United States. The Fertile Crescent and China are the regions where food production first arose. Food production emerged almost 6000 years later in Mesoamerica, the Andes, and the Eastern United States. The next group of areas includes Western Europe, the Indus Valley, and Egypt, which domesticated a few local plants and animals but where food production mainly relied on crops and animals domesticated elsewhere.

Analysis and So What?

• By this point, the reader likely has a clear understanding of the author's argument. The remainder of the book is expected to provide more detailed evidence and examples to support this argument.