Guns, Germs, and Steel
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Movie Reviews of Guns, Germs, and Steel
Movie Review: Heartily recommend the book and the video, and especially both together
Summary: 5 Stars
Jared Diamond's book "Guns, Germs and Steel" has had a profound impact on our understanding of human society, how we got to where we are today and the underlining forces that shaped our history. In the true definition of genius, Diamond examines these very complex subjects and leaves the reader with a sense of it all being so simple, just common sense really.
The first time viewer should find the video interesting and stimulating. It provides a brief overview of the overall concept, and helps visualise the importance of the three main points, guns, germs and steel. The video also goes on to explore how these same forces affect more recent world events. However, in the shortness of time, there is not enough substance in the video to fully explain all the points that are covered.
The book and video complement each other nicely.
As one who has read the book, I found it entertaining to meet the author on video and see these rather dry and academic theories illustrated in graphics, explained on location in interviews, and acted out in theatre.
Movie Review: A worthy companion to a great book
Summary: 5 Stars
Most science or history based dvd's have a companion book that goes along with them. In the case of Guns, germs and steel, it's the other way around. This dvd series touches on some of the major points of the book very well. It is a good companion to the book. It is also a plus that Jarad Diamond is the host of this documentary, because you get to see and hear the man speak about this most facinating idea that has driven him for so long. If this idea of geography playing a major role in the fundemental developement of sociaty intrests you buy this dvd. But also buy the book and once you've seen the documentary, read the book. You will get a much better understanding of the concepts being put forth by Mr. Diamond if you do both these things as apposed to doing one or the other. In the end I know I was left with a better understanding of this facinating subject.Movie Review: Great for teachers
Summary: 5 Stars
Personally, I have used this documentary for my classes and I found it to be highly useful. The episode "Into the Tropics" is especially useful for a lesson on European imperialism in Africa. Diamond does a wonderful job of showing the uniqueness of Africa in terms of the affect of imperialism on it, as well as why unlike Australia and the Americas, the population of subSaharan Africa is not primarly Caucasian.
One sad note. The scene of children dying of malaria had my children saddened, especially when Jared Diamond himself is shown bursting into tears.
The special feautures of this DVD are great to for an introduction to world history course.
Note for non-teachers: If you have read the book already, this DVD is not a necessity, as it is a lightened version of the book.
Movie Review: Guns, Germs, and Steel
Summary: 5 Stars
Why did some cultures expand faster than others? Why do some cultures have more power and wealth than others? These are the questions answered in Guns, Germs, and Steel. The cultures that developed agriculture had time to develop other technologies (Guns and Steel) and thus were able to conquer other cultures (hunting/foraging societies). A big contributing factor to these agrarian cultures was close proximity to animals and the diseases they carried. This provided the immunity to germs which other cultures lacked. The germs were by far more lethal than the guns and steel. Jared Diamond shows how these events all came about and the twist that happened in Africa. A very entertaining and insightful documentary.Movie Review: Excellent production of an amazing book
Summary: 5 Stars
This 2-DVD set contains three episodes based on Jared Diamond's book of the same name. Re-enactments add drama, interviews with experts explain details, and Diamond appears frequently to introduce or explain ideas.
A companion website at http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/ adds to the video's experience.
I really enjoyed the video series because it provides a visually compelling argument for why the world's power is so unbalanced. The book and the video series pair well, I think.