Book Review: Race?

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.

Yali, a native politician in Papua New Guinea in 1972, struck by the volume and variety of goods and technology unloading from ships in his country, asked the author, "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black people have little cargo of our own?"

The author dismissed the racist answer out of hand--namely, "Because white people are superior." Instead, he was inspired to embark on a detective's journey back through 15,000 years of human history, a fascinating journey for anyone interested in wondering. How did all our ancestors, those cave and/or jungle people get to all the different continents, and why are some successful and some still trapped in primitive societies?
This book is ceaselessly fascinating, all the way through Ice Ages and land bridges, and discussions of race are always off the table. In the author's view, the presence of natural resources, especially good farmland and the presence of manageable herd animals have made a huge difference (milk and meat in your backyard and grain in your field) The mention of "Germs" in the title refers to the exchange of diseases between the newly inhabited continents. For a cogent companion to this book, see a related essay by Thomas Sowell in his book, "Black Rednecks and White Liberals," which addresses underdevelopment in the African continent. Read it all.

Even if you believe the conclusions of the famous book, "The Bell Curve," which  charts racial intelligence, wherein the Jews and Japanese are the gold medal winners, any experience with a variety of people and races will render these charts irrelevant to living in the real world. The charts will tell you nothing about the next person who walks into the room. No group identity can refine your own judgement.
There is NO SUBSTITUTE FOR INDIVIDUALISM--in any society.

Forget race, take the journey through pre-history and read this five-star book.