Welcome to the TravelPod forums

[Barrett]

The best travel book post seems rather popular so I thought I would ask people what book to read if you want to get a sense of the world we currently live in. What is the best 'big picture' book that you can recommend to anyone who cares about the world, or might be setting off on a RTW trip and wants to have a context and lense within which to view events and experiences? Who is the best author to open up the world while untangling the extraordinarily complex weave that are the various civilizations on earth?

[Barrett]

One book that has been causing quite a stir is Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat which is on globalization and the impact that global supply chains, outsourcing, etc is having.
This ties in with a book called Three Billion New Capitalists by Clyde Presotwitz about the rise of Asia. I think this one would be useful for anyone travelling to Asia, India and China in particular.

[whereshegoes]

I am not sure about a book that could sum up the world...

But what about "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

He has his own world and a flower.

[Barrett]

I'm not really talking about a book that sums up the world, so much as provides one a paradigm for seeing the world, for understanding what is going on. A framework if you will.

[beardsley]

This is worth reading...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/034546639...5Fencoding=UTF8

[peacefrog]

Been looking for an english version of my pick: can't find it!

Still, here it is: "L'Homme Nomade", by J.Attali. In french, shame!!!

The history of mankind, from prehistoric cave men to today, seen through the prism of nomadism: how nomadism shaped the humanity, the societies, the world. How it is interracting with sedentary settlers, who necessarilly came from nomadism.

All through the book is pointed out how nomadism has been fought throughout the ages, by sedentary powers raising walls or any kind of barriers, because of the mysterious oddities that nomadism conveys: knowledge, exchange, freedom.

Historicaly very well furnished, with a wealth of precision regarding the different nomad people (which can let you know how poor you are in ethnology)

[mrjoe]

If you want to understand why some parts of the world are richer than others read Germs, Guns and Steel by Jared Diamond. It´s a weighty but fascinating and compelling read. Basically Diamond argues that it´s all about the geography and biodiversity of our surroundings rather than any differences between people.
Something to think about next time you´re marvelling at how cheap the prices are in a developing country.

[Jessica_CDN]

Totally agree with mrjoe - Guns, Germs and Steel was great....as was Collapse by the same author - talks about the rise and fall of civilizations. Excellent read!


But to address Barrett's original question, I have yet to come across a really comprehensive book about the times we live in - I could recommend about 20, but none of them address the most important issues for our time.!!

Summer project, anyone? Haha.

[mrjoe]

You´ve got some good points Allen. The development of the world can´t be summed up in one book, much less the two sentences I tried to do it in. There are many other factors to consider. Politics obviously contibutes much to the development of a society (or even holds it back in some cases). Of course you are right that money makes money but why are certain nations richer in the first place?
The book does suggest answers to some of the big questions such as why the people of Africa or the Americas didn´t conquer, colonise and control the nations of Europe rather than the other way round. The early history and development of different societies does affect how rich they are today. Whether the rate of development is due to natural resources, biodiversity and geography or other factors will always be open for discussion.

[Jessica_CDN]

Jared Diamond's arguments in Guns Germs & Steel are quite complex. He proposes an "anthropological" explanation of why Europe became dominant in terms of power. He explores lots of other cultures, but ends up concluding that Europe developed as it did because of a confluence of factors:

- geography
- food production
- development of ancient crops (what's more suitable)
- domestication of plants / big annimals
- evolution of germs (and how that relates to the domestication of animals)
- evolution of writing
- evolution of technology
- religion and government

Basically, lots of areas of the world had SOME of the factors that he identifies (such as large animals suitable for domestication), none, except for Europe, had all. So as a result, while some cultures were quite advanced, they never either a) required or desired to leave their ancestral homeland and colonize, resulting why Europe had all the colonies and everyone else was colonized.

In explaning Canada/US, the similarity of the geography, climate and ecology to Europe resulted in successful colonies, whereas other areas were much less successfully colonized.

Overall, I think it's a very balanced view.

[shongelo]

I also highly recommend Collapse by Jared Diamond as mentioned above by several others. I would also recommend A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson and Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

[siscri]

'Jitterbug Perfume' or 'Skinny Legs And All' by Tom Robbins