• Million Dollar Outline/The Story Puzzle

  Jared Diamond’s non-fiction books and creating new world settings

  Posted by Sulan Dun on January 31, 2020 at 6:17 am

  Jared Diamond writes the most insightful non-fiction books on how societies arise and how they fall. If you are creating a sci fi or fantasy world from scratch it is well worth a read.

  Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393354326/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
  “Fascinating…. Lays a foundation for understanding human history.”―Bill Gates

  Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

  David Farland's Team replied 6 years ago 5 Members · 4 Replies

  • settings
  • societies
  • world creation
• 4 Replies

• 

  Kate Julicher

  Member

  January 31, 2020 at 4:11 pm

  I find Jared Diamond’s ideas interesting and his execution incredibly frustrating. Instead, or in addition to, I highly recommend “1491” and “1493” by Charles Mann. They are, respectively, a discussion of Pre-Columbian America and of the Columbian Exchange and I think 1493 in particular is incredibly useful for worldbuilding. Also they have footnotes.

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  WINTER BROOKS

  Member

  February 1, 2020 at 10:30 pm

  Thank you! I will check all 4 books out.

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  Bonnie Johnston

  Member

  February 12, 2020 at 3:48 am

  You can also watch the documentary based on Jared Diamond’s “Germs Guns and Steel”, and get the big picture understanding of his book. I think I might’ve seen it on Netflix years ago.

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  David Farland's Team

  Member

  September 3, 2020 at 12:34 am

  This is a great one!

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