In his runaway bestseller "Guns, Germs, and Steel," Jared Diamond brilliantly examined the circumstances that allowed Western civilizations to dominate much of the world. Blending the most recent scientific advances into a narrative that is impossible to put down, "Collapse" exposes the deepest mysteries of the past even as it offers hope for the future. Diamond's most influential gift may be his ability to write about geopolitical and environmental systems in ways that dont just educate and provoke, but entertain.? "? The Seattle Times" Extremely persuasive . . . replete with fascinating stories, a treasure trove of historical anecdotes [and] haunting statistics.? "? The Boston Globe" Extraordinary in erudition and originality, compelling in [its] ability to relate the digitized pandemonium of the present to the hushed agrarian sunrises of the far past.? "? The New York Times Book Review"