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''Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'' is a 2005 English-language Book by University Of California, Los Angeles Geography Professor Jared M. Diamond , (ISBN 0143036556). The broad premise of Diamond's book is that it deals with " Societal Collapses involving an environmental component, and in some cases also contributions of climate change, hostile neighbors, and trade partners, plus questions of societal responses" (p. 15). In writing the book Diamond intended that its readers should learn from History (p. 23). SYNOPSIS ''Collapse'' is divided into four parts.
In the prologue, Diamond previews ''Collapse'' in one Paragraph , as follows. :This book employs the comparative method to understand societal collapses to which environmental problems contribute. My previous book (''Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies''), had applied the comparative method to the opposite problem: the differing rates of buildup of human societies on different continents over the last 13,000 years. In the present book focusing on instead of collapses rather than buildups, I compare many past and present societies that differed with respect to environmental fragility, relations with neighbors, political institutions, and other "input" variables postulated to influence a society's stability. The "output" variables that I examine are collapse or survival, and form of the collapse if collapse does occur. By relating output variables to input variables, I aim to tease out the influence of possible input variables on collapses. (p. 18) REVIEWS Tim Flannery Tim Flannery (as cited in "References") gave ''Collapse'' a warm review in '' Science '', writing :"... the fact that one of the world's most original thinkers has chosen to pen this mammoth work when his career is at his apogee is itself a persuasive argument that ''Collapse'' must be taken seriously. It is probably the most important book you will ever read." ''The Economist'' '' people in the world. William Rees , such as Bjørn Lomborg who Author ed '' The Skeptical Environmentalist ''. Rees explained this assertion as follows: :"Human behaviour towards the ecosphere has become dysfunctional and now arguably threatens our own long-term security. The real problem is that the modern world remains in the sway of a dangerously illusory cultural myth. Like Lomborg, most governments and international agencies seem to believe that the human enterprise is somehow 'decoupling' from the environment, and so is poised for unlimited expansion. Jared Diamond's new book, ''Collapse'', confronts this contradiction head-on." Jennifer Marohasy In a recent edition of ''Energy and Environment'', Jennifer Marohasy of the Institute Of Public Affairs (a conservative think-tank in Australia), has a critical review of ''Collapse'' (see "References" below), in particular its chapter on Australia’s environmental degradation. Marohasy claims that Diamond reflects a popular view that is reinforced by environmental campaigning in Australia, but which is not supported by evidence, and argues that many of his claims are easily disproved. REFERENCES
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::"The historical record, at least, shows no general case for either democracy or dictatorship in terms of curbing environmental damage. The Tokugawa Shoguns made a good decision; the ruling kings of the Maya failed to take action."
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