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Jared Diamond’s non-fiction books and creating new world settings
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 GatesCollapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
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4 Replies
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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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Thank you! I will check all 4 books out.
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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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This is a great one!
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