At one point my friend Beatrice told me to read this book and for some reason I was reluctant to do so.  In my mind the topic was “boring”, perhaps too politically-loaded to interest me.  At the same time she recommended another book — I forget the title — which I did read and enjoy, and I should have followed her advice about GGS too.

The book is excellent.  At the start it seems unlikely that the author can write anything new or interesting about the topic he proposes.  In fact, several times throughout the four parts I thought to myself that this is one subject about which nothing could be said.  Yet somehow Diamond makes his argument in a clear and original way.  His writing is excellent and easy to read, and his arguments are strong.  (I’m sure that somewhere on the internet you can find lots of refutations and certainly there are stronger and weaker claims, but all in all the book is very convincing.)  It seems to me that a blind spot in my view of history has been filled in, and it has cast new light on many other aspects of the subject.

I probably won’t read this book again.  It’s not that kind of book.  But I’m glad I finally succumbed to Beatrice’s suggestion.