Anthropology is not my favourite subject, but have been reading a fascinating account of some early humans in this book called Guns, Germs and Steel. I am only quarter of the way through the book, and I am already intrigued by how much of history and geography I am ignorant about. The author is Jared Diamond, a Medical doctor turned Professor of Geography.
The author talks of history of humans starting from prehistoric period (Neanderthal Man, Cro-Magnon man etc. are quite recent, it seems, relatively). But more than that, he tries to explore why certin continents/geographical areas and its people prospered, and why others did not. It is very interesting to read, and has the quality of a whodunit at times.
A region that I knew next to nothing about, Polynesia, stretching from New Zealand to Hawaai with hundreds of islands in between, is the subject of his first chapter, and that is what acutely revealed my ignorance to me. I hope to unravel more of the mysteries of our ancestors as I go along. Happy Discoveries to me!
XLRI Doctoral Colloquium 2024
Pics from a well-organised event. With TAS Vijayaraghavan, my classmate and XLRI prof., and Dr. Prashant, host. My talk on Building Academ...
These Were Liked a Lot
-
The Bangalore Years (1982-84) at IIMB What happens to anyone who goes to an IIM is that his life changes forever. It is a unique environm... -
There is this game of songs-no idea what it's called in English, if at all- called Antakshari, where you sing a song, and the next pers...
-
Two new faculty members, Juhee Singh Verma and Bharat Singh Patel, joined us at Prestige University. Pics of them, with me and some older t... -
Just started teaching the Digital Marketing course for its second run. In between last year and this year, two important things happened.. ...
-
Whoever said a rice cooker is only for cooking rice? On the lookout for new ways to make tea since my only gas cylinder got exhausted and w...
-
I am not a food blogger, but I thought why not try everything once? So here is a simple egg curry recipe. Boil 3 eggs. Peel and set aside.... -
I have been experimenting with drinks all my life. In Calicut, my friend Ravi and I tried out innovative cocktails with local ingredients. ...
3 comments:
Bill Bryson can make you feel that way too - in his own style of humor about matters stretching from the continent down under to the brief history of earth itself.
Yeah, actually that was the first Bryson I read- Short History of Nearly Everything. Great stuff.
Raja,
Heard much about this book. Get it along if you're done with it.
Post a Comment