A tour de force, debunking a theory to which I didn’t happen to subscribe myself, but which I was more than willing to hold up so that Diamond could so eloquently knock it down. I’m reminded of Roger Penrose’s book, The Emperor’s New Mind where, in the course of making an argument about artificial intelligence, he expertly summarizes the whole of the field of physics. Diamond presents clearly a great deal of information that is fascinating to learn whether or not you care about why the Europeans have managed to take over so much of the world.