Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, The Fates of Human Societies spans the history of human existence on earth going back to homo erectus. The author answered a question posed by Yali, a native New Guineian "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people have little cargo of our own?"
Diamond employed the teaching strategy of asking many questions about the sciences of anthropoly, archaeology, and human-development in sharing his answer to Yali's question with readers. Although the question of human development through education is generally missing in his research, the answers to the following questions are present:
Participants in December's Book Banter reflected on Jared Diamond's book:
Diamond tells us the answer to Yali's question is the environment. The main point is that Eurasia has a greater expanse east to west than either the Americas or the African continent, means that to migrate from the east to the west, people and vegetation do not need to adapt to as many environmental changes. By contrast, to migrate from north to south, as in the Americas for example, people and vegetation must adapt to significant changes in the climate.
The author repeatedly points out that color of skin and life style have nothing to do with human intelligence, courage to try new ways, and ability to adapt to the environment.