Episode · Dwarkesh Podcast · 2022-09-14
Books mentioned on Charles C. Mann - Americas Before Columbus & Scientific Wizardry
Charles C. Mann is the author of three of my favorite history books: 1491.
Dwarkesh Patel discussed 1491 by Charles C. Mann and others, 1493 by Charles C. Mann and others, The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C. Mann, The Anarchy by William Dalrymple, and Against the Grain by James C. Scott. Charles C. Mann recommended Aztec Warfare by Ross Hassig and Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson, and discussed Civilizations by Laurent Binet, Rebellion in the backlands (Os sertoes) by Euclides da Cunha, and The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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1491
1491 by Charles C.
Discussed“Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Charles Man, who is the author of three of my favorite books, including 1491, New Revelations of America”
Where to get it
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1493
1493 by Charles C.
Discussed“Before Columbus, 1493, Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, and The Wizard and the Prophet.”
Where to get it
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The Wizard and the Prophet
The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C.
Discussed“Before Columbus, 1493, Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, and The Wizard and the Prophet.”
Where to get it
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Civilizations
Discussed“there's a wonderful um uh book by Laurent Bin uh called Civilizations that in fact just does that.”
Where to get it
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The Anarchy
William Dalrymple's gripping historical study documents the relentless and dramatic rise of the East India Company, detailing the corporate colonization of South Asia and the profound historical consequences that followed.
Discussed“The Anarchy by William Del Rimple.”
Where to get it
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Rebellion in the backlands (Os sertoes)
Discussed“there's a great um the great Brazilian sort of you know classic like Moby Decker is or or Huckfinn is to the US is this thing called um Oshotoys by a guy named Dunia and it's it's translated amazing translation very good translation in English to under rebellion in the backlands”
Where to get it
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Against the Grain
Against the Grain by James C.
Discussed“It sounds it reminds me of um James Scott's thing in against the grain where he pointed out there were if you look at the history of agriculture there's many examples where people just like choose to run away and live as foragers in the forest”
Where to get it
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The Dawn of Everything
The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow is a sweeping historical and anthropological reevaluation of human social evolution, challenging long-held assumptions about the origins of inequality and the development of civilizations.
Discussed“And there's a whole chapter in the book by David Wingro and David Greyber, the dawn of everything about this and there they make this argument that that you know technology is ti excuse me is um you know an example that we can look at of an ancient society that was you know much more socially egalitarian than we”
Where to get it
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Aztec Warfare
Aztec Warfare by Ross Hassig is a comprehensive historical study examining the military strategies, organization, and campaigns of the Aztec empire.
Recommended“There's a wonderful book by Ross Hess called um Aztec warfare in which he it's an amazing um book which is like a military history of the Aztecs.”
Where to get it
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Termination Shock
Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson is a near-future science fiction novel that explores the dramatic consequences of unilateral geoengineering and climate change.
Recommended“So, let me give a plug here for a fun novel by my friend Neil Stevenson called Termination Shock, which is about some rich person just do just doing it and just doing geoengineering”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“So the the the this is sort of a it's like a sequel or something or offshoot of 1491. And that book, um, I'm embarrassed to say, was supposed to end with another chapter, and that chapter was going to be about the American West”
“or (no in the book I u 1491 I mentioned the moldboard plow which is the one with a curving blade that allows you to go through the the soil much more easily invented in China you know thousands of years ago not not around in Europe till the till the 1400s”
“And there's a I think I reproduced this in 1493. There's there's all kinds of maps in Britain at the time showing this little skinny, you know, Philippines-l like islands.”
“I wrote this book the wizard and the prophet and there's about these sort of two camps um that have been around for a long time regarding about how we think about energy resources the environment”