Collapse by Jared Diamond

I read Guns, Germs and Steel when it first came out and I thought it was fabulous. I know it is trendy to whine about the flaws of the academy, but it is nonetheless true that the current climate is such that specialization rules, and no one is asking the big questions anymore. So, when Diamond asked why some societies advanced so much more rapidly than others, I thought it was a fascinating read, especially because he used (really interesting) concrete examples to make his points and avoided a lot of abstract blather.

So I was excited about Collapse. And I loved reading about Easter Island, Iceland, and Rwanda. (He's a good storyteller, and has fun explaining the creative sleuthing techniques that archeological use to discover what happened.) But through the entire book, as he made the point again and again that societies collapsed because they destroyed their environments, I braced myself for the environmentalist rant at the end of the book.

It never came. Diamond is far too rational for that. Instead, he profiles and praises Chevron (an oil company!) for their low-impact Third World oil field. He did get a little stereotypical in the chapter dismissing the objections to environmentalism, but, in general, he kept his focus on looking for realistic solutions. I recommend this book.