Response to Guns, Germs & Steel

Rebecca Nazario Wright
Falk School
1st/2nd Grade
Wow – what a thoroughly enjoyable “assignment!” While the DVD was interesting, I found the reading to be especially fascinating (to such a degree that I read the whole book!). While the website for GG&S was neat, I found the content to be a bit on the skimpy side in terms of Asian references, and the lesson plans are (understandably) geared toward middle and high school students. Not much here for a first grade teacher in terms of future social studies lessons, but…
It was interesting – I knew a lot of what Diamond was talking about, but I had never thought of it in that way before. For example, we all learned at some point that writing and steel were important milestones in cultural development, that disease helped paved the way for explorers to the “New World,” etc, but Diamond made the tremendous impact of these inventions and events very clear, and made the ripple effects of the successes and failures of certain societies very obvious. Even when discussing the complexities of language and migration (particularly in the Japan & Africa chapters), he made these complex analyses of history very accessible. I find that the “subtitle” for the book “A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13, 000 Years” to be absolutely spot on. I found the notion that a brew of a bit of luck, a bit of geography, and a bit of timing was what shaped the evolution of modern society to be a brilliant one, and a brilliantly simple one, too. The reader is left saying “well, when he puts it like that, it makes total sense.” The real beauty of this material is that Diamond took information and theories that can be hopelessly dense and chewy and made them light and airy and fun to read. I found the book to be hopelessly addictive. At first, after completing the China chapter, I figured, well let me read about Japan. Then that led to the New Guinea chapter…and so on.
Over all, I found the Diamond book to be a must-have for any teacher. I’m sure that with a few more re-reads and some clever editing while planning, I could sneak some of his theories into a 1st or 2nd grade level geography or social studies lesson!