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Marvel of Migration
In Jared Diamonds thrilling transdisciplinary nonfiction book, Diamond tries to
explore theories that would explain why Eurasian civilizations had a stronger control on
technological inventions, transportation, and immunity compared to other civilizations.
In a short 477 pages, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The fate of Human Societies shows how
accidents of environment and geography provided Eurasia with a head start in terms of
intellectual advancement. Published in 1997 in Great Britain, UCLA professor Diamond
attempts to not only explain the dominating history of Eurasia, but instead, arguably the
history of everything.
Diamond tries to explain to us that Eurasian superiority didnt start from
ingenuity, but instead from the opportunities provided by the land they lived on. It all
started with Nomadic hunter-gatherers billions of years ago. Place and location were
prime contributions to Eurasias domination. Hunter-gatherers settled in Eurasia because
of the land. The land itself had an immense impact on Eurasian lifestyle. The elevation
called for good farming, dry climate to acclimate storage, and waterways perfect for
trading. But of course, the land quality and the fact that these hunter-gatherers landed on
a place with quality land is all due to luck.
Eurasians were a prime example of human-environment interaction. They
depended on the land as their way of life, adapted to the changes the land often made, and
they modified the land in order to best fit their needs. Not only that, but easy access to
necessities made it easier for Eurasians to advance onto the domination of other
civilizations. Before domination came discovery. Eurasian empires discovered other

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empires and traded with them animals, crops, and other everyday items. With trade came
the tradeoff of viruses from animals to humans.
Eurasians became immune to these viruses, but the majority of the world wasnt.
These viruses let empires worldwide crumble due to the loss of population. With
Eurasias trade services, access to livestock, and population rates, natural selection chose
Eurasian empires to become immune to many diseases that later wiped out many
civilizations. With the civilizations being killed off, Eurasia had more time to plot wars,
battles and domination. Later killing off enemy civilizations and claiming their land, the
Eurasians colonized much of the discovered world. Of course, other civilizations came
back to claim what was rightfully theirs, but the reign of Eurasias dominance all started
with wayfaring nomads and some fertile soil.
Diamonds intention of this book was to hopefully answer an old New Guinean
friends question of, "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and
brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?"(14).
Diamond realized that this question brought upon by his friend Yali didnt apply to just
New Guineans, but everywhere. Why were people of Eurasian decent dominant within
wealth, power, and modern knowledge? By mapping out millions of years of history
spreading from the European Alps to the Aboriginal household, Diamond intended to not
only attempt at answering Yalis question, but also his own.
Although Diamond was simply trying to explain migration patterns throughout
history, I do believe Guns, Germs, and Steel provided moral lessons to readers. Diamond
subtly addresses humanitys selfishness. It is more than just a theory that humans crave
for more than what they have. It started off in the beginning of time when all there was

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were hunter-gatherers. After hunting/gathering their necessities, they eventually evolved
to farm in order of making their lives easier. This compares to today. During this day
and age, we crave technological advances because they make our lives easier. Diamond
states that after being able to stay in one place farmers were able to outbreed hunters,
develop... more potent technology, and then kill... the hunters or driv[e] them off of all
lands suitable for agriculture., meaning everyday life was made easier. Not only was a
stable food supply made available, but the convenient placement allowed from creating
dense populations, trade opportunities, and time for technological advances. The huntergathers changed their ways of life to be easier, just as we are changing our ways of life to
be easier, and arguably lazier.
It is hard to voice my opinion on this book considering I dont even know what
my opinion is. The author did a terrific job in displaying his findings and attempting to
answer questions that have been asked for centuries. I think I would find this book an
enlightening subject if they havent left out a major topic. The majority of Diamond's
research is based upon documents that settler colonialism and its subsequent horrors are
the result of accidental geographic luck. These horrors contain unfortunate events such
as genocide of Native Americans and sub-Atlantic slavery of Africans. Diamonds theory
that Eurasian just got lucky proves that Eurasians werent dominant due to their
knowledge or skill. In addition to the controlling idea of luck, Diamond forgot to
mention that pure chance was the contributor in the systematic power levels of racism
came to be. Racism was and still is a dominating issue worldwide, and the fact that this
obvious result due to luck is not only what this book is lacking, but is what stopped it
from becoming my favorite book.

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I do believe Diamond made an incredible attempt at answering Yalis question.
From migration patterns to environmental facts, this truly was an informative book.
While I do believe some theories mentioned in the book were particularly biased, all in
all Diamonds professional judgment was the reasoning for this. Its hard to believe a
mere question was the reasoning for this book, but Im sure historians across the world
are thankful for Yalis curiosity. While this book may be a mere summer reading
assignment for some, it is different for me. This book showed me why the world is the
way it is. Pure luck was the source of Eurasias booming empire, but also horrific factors
such as slavery, genocide, wars, and racism. Diamond attempted to tell readers why
things are as they are, and he definitely succeeded.