Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond

I listened to the audiobook version of this book
It is a treasure trove of facts, history and science and was intellectually stimulating.
The author uses anthropology, history, linguistics, archeology, etc. to make a case for his theory on how the European/Eurasian dominance of the world was due to environmental and geographical reasons and not a result of any genetic or racial superiority.
The book won lots of prizes. However, it had a lots of sweeping generalizations. Maybe in order to embrace his theory more completely, author did not spend much time on the shortcomings and determining factors, other than the environmental ones, of some of the areas of the world that did not fare as well as Eurasia.

Here are somethings i learnt from the book:

o Humans are so different. They come in all different kinds and they can survive in all kinds of places and conditions.
o The achievements of Australian aborigines who landed and colonized the continent probably about 60000 years ago are as amazing or more amazing than the european expeditions to Northpole.
o Polynesian people are fantastic. They could go on the unbelievably expansive pacific ocean in their puny canoes for thousands of miles and reach the island they intended to go land in. All using their neolithic technology and using only the stars and other natural elements as their navigatory aids. Im going to feel so little when i fire up my GPS to go to an address 5 miles away!
o Different hunter-gatherer people survived their entire life, just eating fruits, tubers, grubs and worms, moths and insects and occasionally some people ate others as delicacy when they had meager food and protein supply.
o Competition between countries is good for our collective advancement, as long as it doesn't involve violence.
o So called "advanced and civilized" people who call others "savages" or "uncivilized" or perhaps the real "uncivilized" ones because in spite of their so called advancements, they are unable to understand why other people are the way they are.

In summary, i was left with awe of our shared human heritage and with deep respect for the land, the environment that we live in, where ever we are, because the environment is what shapes our collective destiny.