Re: Good article on Jared Diamond

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

> >... It's that good-natured relativism that makes his books at once so
> >maddening and yet so necessary; it's also what makes talking to him so
> >perplexing: Diamond sees the best in so many people, it's almost impossible
> >not to like him. ...
 
Carl:  
> Strange, I don't find it difficult at all.

I don't think the issue is whether one likes or dislikes Diamond. It's
his work that's relevant. I like his first big book, GUNS, GERMS, AND
STEEL, though I have some criticisms. His book on COLLAPSE, on the
other hand, is another matter. I haven't read it, but just from his
own summaries (and the exhibit based on it at the L.A. Museum of
Natural History), it's nowhere as good as GG&S. Maybe success went to
his head, but again, that's not what's important.

His THIRD CHIMPANZEE has a lot of useful short essays. One of them
argues that the distinctions between human races is not a result of
the standard Darwinian random variation plus selction, but instead is
due to sexual selection...
-- 
Jim Devine
"Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let
people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.