Yes. He cherry picked some ideas about history to support his theory, and ignored the couple centuries of development of geographic determinism in history that went over all his ideas in detail and showed they didn't work before he was born.
I have never examined his ornithology, but I'm willing to extend him professional courtesy that it's solid, but his popular books should be categorized with Gavin Menzies.
Could you list a few books and main criticisms? Like do the critics claim Diamond is mistaken about the need for plants and animals that can be profitably domesticated, and how few there are? Or that infections diseases played a key role in the success of Western imperialism?
In what way? I'm not sure that anyone seriously argues [against the idea] that geographic determinism had a lot to do with which two core centers of civilization arose earliest (and hence had a big head start). The criticism, such as it is, mostly relates to the fact that geography certainly isn't the only factor that played into how civilizations evolved after they got going in the first place.
madhadron|6 years ago
I have never examined his ornithology, but I'm willing to extend him professional courtesy that it's solid, but his popular books should be categorized with Gavin Menzies.
woodandsteel|6 years ago
ghaff|6 years ago
TDL|6 years ago