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AUTHORS ARE REGULARLY asked by journalists to summarize a long book in one sentence. For this book, here is such a sentence: “History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples’ environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves.” Naturally, the notion that environmental geography and biogeography influenced societal development is an old idea. Nowadays, though, the view is not held in esteem by historians; it is considered wrong or simplistic, or it is caricatured as environmental determinism and dismissed, or else the whole subject of trying to understand worldwide differences is shelved as too difficult. Yet geography obviously has some effect on history; the open question concerns how much effect, and whether geography can account for history’s broad pattern.
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Jared Diamond
Imagine that Lucy and Luke are middle-class twins, who agree to take part in a subjective well-being study. On the way back from the psychology laboratory, Lucy’s car is hit by a bus, leaving Lucy with a number of broken bones and a permanently lame leg. Just as the rescue crew is cutting her out of the wreckage, the phone rings and Luke shouts that he has won the lottery’s $10,000,000 jackpot. Two years later she’ll be limping and he’ll be a lot richer, but when the psychologist comes around for a follow-up study, they are both likely to give the same answers they did on the morning of that fateful day.
Sapiens
Yuval Noah Harari
When you think of the word “successful,” who’s the first person who comes to mind and why? What is something you believe that other people think is insane? What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift? What is your favorite documentary or movie? What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last 6 months? What are your morning rituals? What do the first 60 minutes of your day look like? What obsessions do you explore on the evenings or weekends? What topic would you speak about if you were asked to give a TED talk on something outside of your main area of expertise? What is the best or most worthwhile investment you’ve made? Could be an investment of money, time, energy, or other resource. How did you decide to make the investment? Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often? What is the worst advice you see or hear being dispensed in your world? If you could have one gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say? What advice would you give to your 20-, 25-, or 30-year-old self? And please place where you were at the time, and what you were doing. How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Or, do you have a favorite failure of yours? What is something really weird or unsettling that happens to you on a regular basis? What have you changed your mind about in the last few years? Why? What do you believe is true, even though you can’t prove it? Any ask or request for my audience? Last parting words?
Tools of Titans
Timothy Ferriss
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