Guns, Germs, and Steel
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamondby Jared Diamond
Shares rank 10 of 50 popular science books by recommenders
People recommend it as a readable account of why Eurasian societies came to dominate, driven by geography, though critics call its thesis weak and say newer scholarship has overtaken it.
People recommend it as a readable account of why Eurasian societies came to dominate, driven by geography, though critics call its thesis weak and say newer scholarship has overtaken it.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 58%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Explains history through geography, not genetics
“Diamond says that the reasons Europeans colonised South America (rather than vice versa) is largely due to geographic factors, not due to any inherent genetic superiority”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “I can't stop thinking about Papua New Guinea” “I remember Diamond writing specifically about the relative lack of domesticable animals in sub-Saharan Africa”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “I can't stop thinking about Papua New Guinea” “is a great book that explores geographic determinism”
Comment from 17 Oct 2026 in “The Economic Complexity of the Western Roman Empire” Good read for general audiences
“i dont really think there is a better option for a popular audience that will answer the question”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “Why the Bronze Age Collapsed” “if you are interested you should read Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “Why the Bronze Age Collapsed” “It's a good read if anyone is interested in how Eurasia got so dominant.”
Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Cats became our companions way later than you think” - Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “I can't stop thinking about Papua New Guinea”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Many errors and unsound claims
“Jared Diamond's whole thesis in Gun, Germs etc is post hoc ergo propter hoc.”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “I can't stop thinking about Papua New Guinea” “That book has some many errors in it”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “Why the Bronze Age Collapsed” Pseudoscientific claims about populations
“That book is so garbage, psudoscientific, empirically wrong, sinophobic”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “I can't stop thinking about Papua New Guinea” “Diamond makes broad genetic/intelligence claims about whole populations”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “I can't stop thinking about Papua New Guinea” Called a bad, awful book
“Jared diamonds an idiot and "guns germs and steel" is among the worst books written in human history”
Comment from 16 Feb 2026 in “Amazon, Google Unwittingly Reveal the Severity of the U.S. Surveillance State” “Guns, Germs, and Steel is a famously awful book.”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Many African families spend fortunes burying their dead”
Other popular science books people recommend
The four most recommended other popular science books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gödel, Escher, Bachby Douglas Hofstadter | 47 | 10 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Thinking, Fast and Slowby Daniel Kahneman | 17 | 13 | 57% | 9 | — | — |
| Thinking in Systemsby Donella Meadows | 17 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Selfish Geneby Richard Dawkins | 14 | 5 | 74% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Guns, Germs, and Steelby Jared DiamondThis page | 7 | 5 | 58% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
16 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“is a great book that explores geographic determinism”
“i dont really think there is a better option for a popular audience that will answer the question”
“That book has some many errors in it”
“if you are interested you should read Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.”
“I read Guns, Germs and Steel recently and loved it.”
“Diamond makes broad genetic/intelligence claims about whole populations”
“I remember Diamond writing specifically about the relative lack of domesticable animals in sub-Saharan Africa”
“Diamond says that the reasons Europeans colonised South America (rather than vice versa) is largely due to geographic factors, not due to any inherent genetic superiority”
“Jared Diamond's whole thesis in Gun, Germs etc is post hoc ergo propter hoc.”
“That book is so garbage, psudoscientific, empirically wrong, sinophobic”
“I also found the stuff about PNG very interesting in Jared Diamond's 'Guns Germs and Steel'”
“Guns, Germs, and Steel is a famously awful book.”
“There’s some more recent scholarship than Guns, Germs, and Steel”
“Jared diamonds an idiot and "guns germs and steel" is among the worst books written in human history”
“It's a good read if anyone is interested in how Eurasia got so dominant.”
“I like how the book "Guns, Steels, and Germs" describes that novel creative process and contrasts it via a disseminative derivation process.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.