Chirp Audiobooks

After 40 years of travel and research, the author shares with us his findings and conclusions of his ambitious attempt to answer the question of why the Europeans colonized the New World rather than the New World colonizing Europe. The geography, the availability of native plants and animals, leading to agriculture and domestication, and in turn, leading to civilizations, weapons, and conquest, are examined in detail, painting a picture of how certain societies advanced while others did not. It’s an eye opening and convincing review of history and science to show how civilization evolved the way it did. On the other hand, the author asks the question whether European conquests were the result of differences in people or differences in environments. He devotes 400 pages examining the environmental differences in the continents, but less than a single page to the differences in races. He states up front that, based on his own personal experience, people of New Guinea appear to be more intelligent than Europeans. He expands this experience to assume that all people from New Guinea are at least as intelligent as Europeans, and therefore all people in the world are essentially equal in intelligence and capability to develop civilization. His evidence for environmental factors is compelling, but his assumptions about human nature, that is, his lack of evidence for human factors, leaves his conclusions in question. Overall, a fascinating read, which I recommend to students of history and the development of human civilization.