On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 14:16:12 -0600, Gary Denton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The reviewer, Easterbrook, is so incredibly wrong in what he says > about _Guns, Germs and Steel that I cannot trust anything he says > about _Collapse. Years ago Easterbrook was a decent science columnist > and reviewer but has done shoddy work in recent years. > > Gary Denton > I should elaborate. How anyone can read _Guns, Germs and Steel and make the following claim is an idiot who can't read and doesn't even know what postmodern is.
"''Guns'' asked why the West is atop the food chain of nations. Its conclusion, that Western success was a coincidence driven by good luck, has proven extremely influential in academia, as the view is quintessentially postmodern. " _Guns provides reasoning, mainly from geography, of why Europe was best suited to acquire technology and spread. You may disagree with the evidence and say he overstates the case but to say _Guns concludes that Western sucess was due to luck is not a rational review. The buzz phrase "quintessentially postmodern" seems to indicate Easterbrook opposes this book and wishes to link it to some liberal academia fuzzy thinking. If he wanted to state that opinion he should not open the what is postmodern subject matter which is a different issue. -- Gary Denton Easter Lemming Liberal News Digest - I think Brin was on to something in 'Earth' in suggesting the right to vote be dependent upon subscribing to some opposing viewpoint media. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
