Diamond J. 1999. Guns, germs, and steel. W.W. Norton & Company Inc., New York, New York
I found the writing in this part of Diamond’s book much more dense than that of the previous chapter we read. In these chapters, Diamond tells of the rise of agriculture in different parts of the world. In these chapters there was less descriptive language, instead, Diamond had a tendency to simply state the facts. Because of this, I found these chapters much slower to read and I struggled to keep my focus on the text in front of me.
In the fourth chapter of the book Diamond uses the title of the book in the text: “food production was indirectly a prerequisite for the development of guns, germs, and steel.” (pg 86). By doing this, Diamond gets the reader’s attention and draws them to the point he is making. However, he does this again on page 103 and it loses some of its effect. It’s kind of like when someone you think you know says something that seems out of character, the first time it shocks you, but after that it becomes normal.
Diamond also uses figures throughout the text. These figures, however, did not help me interpret the text. Figure 4.1 on page 87 did not help me to understand the information I had already been presented in any way that I didn’t get from the text. The use of pictures was also done in an ineffective manner. Diamond puts a big block of photos in the middle of chapter 5. Not only are these in the middle of a chapter, they are in the middle of a sentence. This makes the reader remember what they were reading as they flip through 16 pages of photos unrelated to the text they are literally in the middle of. After finishing the reading the reader then has to go back and look at the photos, something most will likely not do.
In chapter 8, Diamond finally breaks away from the dense text and provides us with an anecdote to illustrate a point. The story of him questioning the locals gives the readers a much-needed breath where they can digest the cognitive load that Diamond has been burdening them with. For these chapters to be more effective, Diamond should be using more of these stories and more descriptive language to spread out and lighten the load he is putting on the reader.
Plants and People 
Hey, Marie, I totally agree with you on this set of chapters. I feel like the point he was trying to get at got lost in what I could only describe as a “snore fest”. The content was so dry that the important information couldn’t be gleaned from the rest of the wall of text, and that block of pictures in the middle of a sentence aggravated me more than it probably should have.
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I didn’t like either to find photos, tables and figures cutting in half some sentences, it made me lose track of the lecture. But as Lyn remarked in class, Diamond probably didn’t like it either and it probably was the editors’ idea. I wouldn’t be happy if my book came out like this,
Unlike you, I found these chapters much more engaging than the previous chapter we read, maybe it was because the first time I compared Diamond’s writing with Pollan’s..
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