Collapse - How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive
Language: English
Published by Penguin Books, Limited, 2005
- Softcover
- Used
Seller: Barclay Books, York, WA, AustraliaBarclay Books
AbeBooks seller since October 22, 2015
Association member: ANZAABILAB
View this seller's itemsCondition: Used
£ 8.17
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
From groundbreaking writer and thinker Jared Diamond comes an epic, visionary new book on the mysterious collapse of past civilizations - and what this means for our future."I've set myself the modest task of trying to explain the broad pattern of human history, on all the continents, for the last 13,000 years. Why did history take such different evolutionary courses for peoples of different continents? This problem has fascinated me for a long time, but it's now ripe for a new synthesis because of recent advances in many fields seemingly remote from history, including molecular biology, plant and animal genetics and biogeography, archaeology, and linguistics." -Jared Diamond Who has looked on the ancient Maya or classical Mediterranean cities and not wondered why they were abandoned? Or whether they hold a message for us? In this fascinating book, Jared Diamond seeks to understand the fates of past societies that collapsed for ecological reasons, combining the most important policy debate of our generation with the romance and mystery of lost worlds. Citizens of first world societies look around and tend not to see signs of imminent ecological collapse: the supermarkets are full of food; water gushes from our faucets; we live amidst trees and green grass. Actually, though, many past civilizations--with far smaller populations and less potent destructive technologies than those of today--have inadvertently committed ecological suicide: the Polynesian societies on Easter Island and other Pacific islands or the Anasazi civiliation, for example. Ecocide asks why some societies make disastrous decisions, and how can we in the modern world learn better problem solving? Ecocide is an ecological history of human societies that considers why societies in some regions have been more vulnerable than those in other regions, and also compares the trajectories of pastcivilizations with likely trajectories of our own. Why did Greenland fail where Iceland succeeded? What links Rwanda and Australia? What can contemporary Montana learn from the ancient Mayans and modern Chinese? First published 2005. Allen Lane, 2005. A trade paperback copy in very good condition. .…
Seller Inventory # 4550804
- Title
- Collapse - How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive
- Author
- Jared Diamond
- Publisher
- Penguin Books, Limited
- Publication year
- 2005
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0713998628
- ISBN 13
- 9780713998627
- Dimensions
- 23.00 cmmm X 15.20 cmmm
- Series
- Book 2 of 3: Civilizations Rise and Fall
In Collapse, Jared Diamond investigates the fate of past human societies, and the lessons for our own future. What happened to the people who built the ruined temples of Angkor Wat, the long-abandonded statues of Easter Island, the crumbling Maya pyramids of the Yucatan? All saw their cultures collapse because of environmental crises. And it looks as if those crises were self-induced.
As in his celebrated global best-seller Guns, Germs and Steel, Diamond brings together new evidence from a startling range of sources to tell a story with epic scope. And he lends it urgency for the modern world by probing the roots of decisions which allowed some societies to avoid ecological catastrophe, while others succumbed. How, he asks, can we learn to be survivors?
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Jared Diamond was born in Boston to a physician father and a teacher/musician/linguist mother. After training in laboratory biological science he became Professor of Physiology at UCLA Medical School in 1966. However, already while in his twenties, he also developed a second parallel career in the ecology and evolution of New Guinea birds. That led him to explore some of the most remote parts of that great tropical island, and to rediscover New Guinea's long-lost Golden-fronted Bowerbird. In his fifties he gradually developed a third career in environmental history, becoming Professor of Geography and of Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA.
As well as being renowned in academic circles, Jared Diamond is famous for his prize-winning books The Third Chimpanzee and Why is Sex Fun?, and for revolutionizing the study of global human history with Guns, Germs and Steel. His awards include a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (a 'genius award'), and the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. The broad range of disciplines that he weaves into his writing - linguistics, genetics, animal behaviour, molecular biology and others - caused a reviewer to write, ' "Jared Diamond" is suspected of actually being the pseudonym for a committee of experts.' In his spare time he watches birds and learns languages (he is currently learning his twelfth). He is the father of seventeen-year-old twin sons who have informed much of his outlook on life.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Barclay Books
York, WA, Australia
Shipping rates from Australia to U.S.A.
| Item | 10 to 14 business days | 6 to 9 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 24.13 | £ 29.69 |
Payment methods
Store description
Barclay Books is a new,used and rare book store situated in the beautiful historic town of York, Western Australia. York is Western Australia's oldest inland town and being only 100km from Perth it is popular with tourists for it's charming period buildings and scenic Avon Valley setting. We are long time book collectors ourselves and understand the needs of collectors in regards to accurate book descriptions. We welcome any enquiry regarding our stock prior to purchase. Our opening hours are usually 9am - 5pm Thurs to Sun and Public Holidays or by appointment.…
Specialty
Used and rareAssociation member
Seller's business information
Cygnus (WA) Pty Ltrd
151 Avon Tce
York, WA Australia 6302
Terms of sale
We guarantee the condition of every book as it is described on the Abebooks website. A full refund will be provided for any book returned as being not as described or that does not arrive within 30 days of the expected delivery date. Cygnus (WA) Pty Ltd as trustee for the Barclay Family Trust trading as Barclay Books. 151 Avon Tce, York WA 6302 AUSTRALIA info@barclaybooks.com.au 08 9411665 ABN 35 274 897 226 Clayton Smith DIRECTOR
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to Barclay Books, York, Western Australia, Australia, +61 08 96411665, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.
Shipping terms
Orders are usually shipped with 3 business days of order. Books will all be securely packaged for shipping.