Total germs - the force that changed the fate of human society

★★★ No. 1 in longest lending period at Seoul National University Library
★★★ Top 10 National Library Loans
★★★ Selected by the Publication Ethics Committee as ‘20 recommended books for college freshmen’
★★★ ‘10 books you want to read again’ selected by professors
★★★ Selected by the New York Times as ‘100 Books You Must Read Before You Die’

Jared Diamond's masterpiece of civilization research
A modern classic that reveals the mystery of the creation and prosperity of civilization.

The world-famous book “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” containing innovative insights into human history, has been newly published. This book is the representative work of Jared Diamond, a great intellect who crosses academic boundaries from cultural anthropology to history, science, and future prospects. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for overturning conventional wisdom about history and presenting a new perspective on the creation and prosperity of civilization.
Why are some countries rich and others poor? Why did some peoples become objects of conquest and domination by other peoples? Why did Eurasians, rather than indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, and Australia, dominate the world's wealth and power? Guns, Germs, and Steel unravels the grand history of humanity through the fusion of various disciplines such as biology, geography, anthropology, history, and linguistics, and comprehensively identifies the causes of inequality in today's modern world.
This book, which shook the media and academia as soon as it was published, is a global bestseller that has been translated into 43 languages ​​and sold millions of copies. It is widely read around the world as “a book you must read before graduating from college” (Washington Post). In Korea, it is famous for being ‘No. 1 in longest loan period at Seoul National University Library’, ‘Top 10 loans at the National Library of Korea’, and ‘20 recommended books for college freshmen’ selected by the Publication Ethics Committee. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, he won the British Science Publishing Award, the Japanese Cosmos Award, and the California Book Award in the United States. It has risen to the ranks of classics with its overwhelming narrative that provides new insights into the crises and opportunities facing humanity.

“This is the book that changed me from a medieval war historian to an anthropologist. “He gave me the courage to write Sapiens.” ─ Yuval Harari, professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem

“If you had to read just one of Jared Diamond’s works, it would definitely be Guns, Germs, and Steel. “He laid the foundation for understanding human history.” ─ Bill Gates, Microsoft founder

Tracing the trajectory of human history and civilizational development
Groundbreaking research that comprehensively identifies the causes of inequality in the current world

Professor Jared Diamond is a scientist who clearly explains social issues and is a scholar who is always called upon whenever suggestions on changes and prospects for civilization are needed. As such, he, who is considered a world-renowned cultural anthropologist and civilization researcher, did not initially major in anthropology. While working as a professor of physiology, he began researching evolutionary biology by observing birds in New Guinea in 1964. Afterwards, he expanded his research areas to include geography, biogeography, environmental history (studying the interaction between ecosystems and humans), and cultural anthropology. In the process, he has written books on critical questions inherent in human society for a global audience.

“I realized that the future of our children’s generation depends on whether we can successfully solve the major problems that threaten our world in the coming decades. This is a complex problem of human society, geography and history. So, in order to inform many people about the problem and at the same time find a solution, I attempted to change my career at the age of 50 and wrote a book. In Guns, Germs, and Steel, we sought to answer the greatest questions in human history.” ─ From ‘2023 Special Preface’

Jared Diamond's unique comparative research spanning Europe, America, Australia, and East Asia, as well as the integrated knowledge he has accumulated through traveling back and forth between the laboratory and the field, are on full display in Guns, Germs, and Steel. By approaching human history in a natural scientific way, he reveals through sharp arguments that environmental differences have had a significant impact on human history and the development of civilization.
The most important significance of this book lies here. 《Guns, Germs, and Steel》 wipes out the biological prejudice that the innate superiority and inferiority between races or ethnic groups has caused the imbalance in the current world, and breaks away from the Western-centric world view of history and racist theories. No society is inherently superior or inferior. It is a monumental work that traverses the yesterday, today, and future of civilization and changed common sense about me, us, and the world.

A question that penetrates the core of 1 years of human history
How did guns, germs, and steel change the fate of human society?

Why has human history unfolded differently on each continent? Why did guns, germs, and iron develop first on the Eurasian continent? How did the domestication of plants and animals affect the formation of civilization? Jared Diamond asks question after question, tracing the trajectory of civilization's development back 1 years ago, when all humans lived by hunting and gathering.
Part 1, 'From Eden to Cajamarca', is a preparatory step to explore the impact of the continent's environment on human society over 1 years. Overview of Polynesian societies that developed differently depending on the world and environment just before the rise of civilization, and reconstruction of the conflict between Spain and the Inca Empire that occurred in Cajamarca, showing that 'guns, germs, and steel' were the proximate factors that enabled Europe to conquer the Americas. It proves that it was.
Part 2, 'Origin and Spread of Food Production', is a process of finding out what the ultimate factors that led to such proximate factors are. Food production, that is, securing food through farming and herding, rather than hunting and gathering, was a prerequisite for the development of guns, germs, and iron. However, the domestication of plants and animals began independently only in some regions, such as the Fertile Crescent, and the start times varied greatly from region to region. This was due to environmental factors encompassing geographical location, climate, ecological barriers, and the central axis of the continent. Food production spread more rapidly in Eurasia, where the central axis is oriented east-west, than in America, where the central axis is oriented north-south.
Part 3, 'From Food to Guns, Germs, and Steel', closely traces the link that exists between proximate factors and ultimate factors, examining not only military power (guns), infectious diseases (germs), and science and technology (steel), but also letters, nations, and religion. Even the origins of are explained persuasively. More deadly epidemics emerged in Eurasia, where there were many animals to domesticate. Surplus food from food production led to the birth of new science and technology, writing, and political organizations. In other words, food production made possible more food, a larger population, a politically centralized and socially stratified society, and an economically complex and scientifically and technologically innovative society.
Part 4, ‘Detailed analysis of six regions’, is the step of applying what was proven in Parts 2 and 3. By analyzing population movements and conflicts that occurred in six regions - Australia and New Guinea, China and East Asia, mainland Asia and Pacific islands, Europe and America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Korea and Japan - through archaeological and linguistic evidence, human history is based on continents. It is ultimately confirmed that the reason for each case's development being different is due to differences in environment.